


Falling in the White

by pikajo14



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Battle, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Family, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Mystery, Non-Consensual Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-28 17:39:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 56,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11422884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pikajo14/pseuds/pikajo14
Summary: After being taken by Frieza, Goten has no memory of his past. Upon returning to Earth to destroy it, he comes across an old friend. Can Trunks save Goten or will the darkness claim him? NOT YAOI.





	1. Chapter 1

To say that he was bored was an understatement. His mother was trying to make him study again and he hated it. Nothing ever made sense and all he wanted to do was fight anyway.

Looking out the window, he figured out a plan to get out of here. His mother had just started vacuuming; if he opened the window and flew off she wouldn't be the wiser until she came back up.

He moved quickly, someone had to be free. Maybe he could go train with Gohan or his dad, or maybe Trunks was free.

His window opened with ease and he snuck out into the bright and sunny day. It was far too nice for him to be locked in the house. He decided that he would head off to see what Gohan was doing first. It wasn't far from here.

As he flew, he looked down at Earth. He frowned to himself, he wished that he could do this more often. Gohan got to do this stuff when he was a kid, so why was he always stuck on the sidelines or away from everything?

Videl and Gohan's house was just under him and he made to land, only to find his father and Uub training with Pan. He stared down at them and felt a small pang of jealousy in his heart. They all looked so happy. His father seemed to be taking joy in training them.

He flew away from them. He couldn't stand it; seeing them like that made him wonder if he really mattered to them at all. Did he even need to be around? His father ignored him on a daily basis, most days he would only see him if he was eating. His mother had her perfect child. Every day he would be compared to Gohan. And it wasn't just his mother, his father did it too. He wanted to snap, how could he get as good as Gohan if he didn't take the time to train him? Besides, there was no way he could ever measure up to Gohan. He would always be a second thought to them.

Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as he flew to Capsule Corp. Surely Trunks would have something fun to do, something that would take his mind off of his family.

His thoughts continued to nag him as he flew. Thinking about Trunks wasn't any better. If he was jealous of Gohan, he had to be envious of Trunks. He wanted what his best friend had. Vegeta gave a shit about his son's training. At the same time, Bulma made sure that he was being taught to run Capsule Corp. Then there was Trunks's baby sister, Bra. She seemed to get just as much attention from the two of them.

He stopped midflight. Did he really want to go over there? Did he really want to have that pushed in his face right now? He sighed. It wasn't that he hated them. He loved all of his family and friends, but really he wanted to be alone right now.

He flew off course. He knew where he wanted to go. The desert where his father and Vegeta had taken down Buu a couple of years ago seemed like the best place. Maybe he could just sit there and think.

It was hard to believe that all of that happened just two years ago. His father had thought then that he had what it took to get rid of Buu, but no, he wasn't enough. He wasn't as good as Gohan was.

He sighed. Maybe this wasn't a good idea either. He made to stand, only be knocked forward onto his stomach. A horrible stabbing pain hit his back and he screamed out. He could feel his warm blood leaking onto his clothes. The pain came crashing down again and he let out a cry as tears stung the corners of his eyes.

"Put the cuffs on him and leave the decoy," one of his attackers said, before he felt something clamp down on his wrists. It was tight and he couldn't move. He made to cry out, but went limp as something bashed him in the head.

* * *

Chichi smiled to herself as she went upstairs to check on Goten's studying. She hoped that Goku got everything set up. Goten had been so good about his studying that she was going to let him start training with Uub and Pan.

She opened the door only to find the room empty. She looked over to the window and found that it was open. She frowned. She didn't believe this. How long had he been pulling the wool over her eyes? He was going to be getting it when he got home.

She picked up the phone. Surely, he was over at Bulma's. She knew the woman's number by now and waited as it rang. "Hello?"

Chichi smirked as Bulma answered. "Bulma, can you put Goten on? He's in big trouble."

Bulma didn't answer her immediately. "Chichi, Goten isn't here."

She was taken aback. "Are you sure?" She felt herself start to panic. Where else could he be?

"Trunks has been with Vegeta all day. Oh, they just walked in. Trunks, have you seen Goten today?" She heard some sounds in the background. "Sorry, Chichi, Trunks hasn't seen him."

Pure terror went through her. "I'll check Videl. Maybe he went to Gohan's." At this point her voice was shaking.

"I'll call you if I see him though," Bulma said; she must have heard the alarm in her voice.

"Thank you," she said before hanging up and trying Videl and Gohan's number. This time it was Videl that answered. "Everything is almost set up, Chichi. When do you think you two will be over?" She could hear Goku talking to Pan in the background.

"I…Videl, he's gone. I don't know where he is. I went upstairs to check on him but he was nowhere to be found! Please have Goku and Gohan go and look for him." Her daughter-in-law must have heard how terrified she was because she heard her run over to Goku and Gohan to explain everything. After that she could hear them flying off. "Don't worry, Chichi, they'll find him."

She hoped so, because no matter what she did. She couldn't shake this bad feeling.

* * *

Goku turned to Gohan as they flew. It was a little odd that he couldn't find Goten's Ki, but the boy knew how to control it so he had to be hiding somewhere.

"Where do you think he could have gone?" Gohan asked.

He sighed. "I don't know. But this really throws a wrench in everything. I finally convinced your mother that he needs trained and he runs off. I don't think that she will let him train now."

Gohan laughed. "I can just imagine the look on his face after he realizes what he did."

He felt himself laugh as well. "Let’s just find him, first. Then we'll poke some fun at him."

They continued their search and soon it had been over 2 hours. They had looked everywhere but there was no sign of him. He turned to Gohan again, thinking that they needed to split up. It was going to be dark soon and they still had no idea if Goten had returned home.

Suddenly Gohan was flying down quickly. It must have been Goten. He followed him and was beyond shocked when he landed.

All that lay on the ground was a small body. His heart stopped. Gohan was turning him over; he could smell his son's blood all around him. "Dad, he's not breathing!"

His eyes looked over the marks all over his son. There was no Ki left. He let out a monstrous snarl. His body went straight to super saiyan 3 as he yelled up at the sky in grief. Everything around him began to snap a part. Rocks were smashing to bits; the sky itself crackled and sprayed lightening all over the sand of the desert, followed by rain.

"Gohan…" His voice was ravaged.

He heard a loud snarl behind him. It only confirmed his fears. Goten was dead.

The sky filled with more lightening as his eldest son began to transform. "We will find who did this!"

"When I find them, I will personally rip them to shreds!" Goku cried out, sending lightening cascading around them.

He looked again at the lifeless form of his youngest son. The dragon should be able to bring him back. Then they would find who did this. Then he would have his revenge.

* * *

Bulma looked over at Vegeta. She still felt a little perturbed about the phone call that she had received from Chichi. Trunks was still messing with his food when Goku and Gohan appeared in the kitchen.

"Goku is everything all right?" she asked.

He didn't even look at her. "I need the dragon radar." It sounded like he was trying to control his anger.

Vegeta walked forward, but stopped. "Trunks, go upstairs."

"Why, Papa?" her son asked. She also wondered why.

"Just do as I say!" Vegeta barked and she heard her son move out of the kitchen towards the stairs. "How long?"

"I don't know," Gohan said, coming around.

That's when she saw it. Goten was pale as death, and looking at Goku and Gohan, she knew that he was. "I'll be right back with the radar." It didn't take long for her to find it. She hurried back with it. "Why don't you all go look for the dragon balls. I'll stay here with him."

They all zoomed off and she finally looked down at the child left in her care. She could only imagine the pain that Goku was feeling right now. She had never lost Trunks. Soon the boy would be brought back and then they would have some answers.

* * *

Goku flew in to find that they had all of the dragonballs. He looked to Bulma to make the wish as the dragon appeared.

"We wish for Son Goten to be wished back to life!"

" **THAT CAN NOT BE DONE!"**  the dragon said.

" **What?** " He looked up at the dragon in shock. " **You have to be lying!"**

The dragon disappeared and the balls flew off.

His rage and grief began to surround him again as he transformed up again. **"GOTEN!”** Around him, he could feel everything breaking apart. He would find the scum who did this. " **I'm gonna KILL them!** " he said as his body shook.

He almost flinched as he felt a hand on his shoulder, Vegeta stood there looking him in the eye. He could see the rage gathering there was well. "That bastard will pay."

Behind him, he could hear Gohan powering up again, his own anger fueling his actions. "Till we find this scum, I suggest that all of our children be trained."

"Vegeta can start on Bra's training tomorrow morning," Bulma said tearfully behind him.

He noticed the prince look over at his wife. "I thought…"

"I'm not having someone target her! She needs to know how to protect herself!"

He growled, his anger finding a new target. In seconds, he touched his forehead, placing himself back at home with his wife.

She rushed over to him, looking terrified. "Did you...?"

He growled. "This is your fault. If only you let him train. Then Goten would still…" He didn't want to say it. He couldn't say it. If he did, then he would be accepting that his son was dead.

She shook her head as she caught on to what he was saying. Tears sprang from her eyes. "No…no…NOOO!"

* * *

He shook his head. Where was he? This didn't look like the desert. Hell, he knew he couldn't be on Earth.

The back of his head hurt, and then he remembered. He was attacked, basically kidnapped. He looked down at the ground. Trunks and Gohan were never going to let him live this down.

"So I see you're awake," an unfamiliar voice said from the shadows.

He stared at the figure; it looked like nothing he had ever seen before. "Who are you?"

The man chuckled. "Strange that your father has never told you about me, I believe that it's Goten, isn't it?"

This man knew his father? How? "Yes, but you still haven't answered my question."

"What a shame. If you knew, it would make this next part a whole lot more enjoyable," the strange man said, walking forward.

Fear gripped him as he turned super saiyan, but the tyrant didn't stop. He only laughed at him. "Get away from me!" he cried out as the man pinned him against the wall.

"Come now, child. Don't fight it." The man chuckled as more soldiers filled the room. "Besides, not everyone is chosen to be in my army."

He felt something stab into his arm and screamed out for his family, but as he did, he felt them fade out. It was almost like a fog was covering up everything. His mother's face disappeared, Gohan and Videl gone, Trunks obliterated. And finally his father vanished. Everything he had ever known had been wiped from his memory.

He looked around the cabin of the ship. Where was he? For that matter, who was he?

The men that were holding him down let go of him. The strange man in front of him looked sad. "I'm sorry, child. There was no way to save them."

"Save who? I don't understand. Who are you, and who am I?" He was terrified.

The man leaned down, placing his hand on his shoulder. "My name is Lord Frieza and I am sorry, Kabu. I couldn't stop him from destroying your home. You are the last one left."

Last one left? "What do you…?"

Frieza looked down again. "A rogue by the name of Son Goku killed everyone, including your family. You are all alone now, I'm afraid."

He felt tears prick at his eyes. "Why?" he sniffed. He couldn't even remember his family, was this also this Goku's doing?

"It is all a game to him, Kabu."

He felt himself growl. "I'm going to kill him!" he said through his tears.

The man only smiled at him. "If you want to kill him, I can show you."

He let out at snarl. "Show me then."

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

10 years later

He smirked as his pod docked. He had just returned from a successful mission. Lord Frieza would be thrilled.

Over the years, his Lord had taught him more than just how to fight, he taught him how to kill and destroy. At first he wasn't keen on killing innocent people, but Frieza said that they were all in league with that murderous fiend, Son Goku. Just thinking the name made him growl. The hatred that stewed in his veins now fueled his power. He would get vengeance for his planet, even if he couldn't remember it. Frieza said that the trauma was too severe for him to remember, but maybe if he got rid of Goku, then he may trigger something.

He chuckled to himself as he imagined what he would do to the man once he found him. Over a million options seemed to be at his fingertips.

"Are you sure you wanna kill him, Kabu?" his seeming conscience asked.

"Well, why wouldn't I? He slaughtered my entire family and my home planet," Kabu responded to the small child who had been following him as long as he could remember.

"Are you sure?" The child asked.

"I can trust Lord Frieza," Kabu informed him. "Besides, everything you have ever suggested I do has always gotten me in trouble."

"Not everything, always, Kabu." Kabu simply chuckled as he remembered the many mishaps.

"What's so funny?" Frieza said greeting him.

He smirked at his master. "Everything went as planned. The planet is cleared and we can move onto the next one, My Lord."

The frostian smirked. "Good." The Lord turned to his guards. "Leave us." Around him, the guards began to leave. Whatever Frieza had to say, it had to be important.

"Has something come up, My Master?" He said, crossing his arms and looking at his mentor.

The Lord gave him a small smirk. "We have located the one known as Son Goku, Kabu."

His eyes went wide. He had waited for this day. The day when all of his blood, sweat, and tears over the last 10 years came to a close. He snarled. "Where is he?"

Frieza only chuckled. "He is on a planet known as Earth. I will warn you that most of Earth is on his side, there is no doubt that he has twisted their minds."

He felt himself punch a nearby wall, causing the steel to turn to dust. "If they are with him, I will eradicate them, My Master."

"Good. Prepare yourself, Kabu. Your revenge is near."

He felt himself smirk. Soon…soon, Son Goku would face his wrath.

* * *

Goku walked by the same room every morning. Goten's old room had not been changed. It was too much for both him and his wife, well soon to be ex-wife. Over the years, they grew apart. Their day followed the same; he would knock on Goten's door, even though he knew he wasn't there. He would tell him to get out of bed. Then he would head down to the kitchen where Chichi was making breakfast. She would always make his plate for him. Even though he would never be there to eat it.

After he came home that day, he blamed his wife. Truly there was no one to blame, except the killer and he had yet to find him.

Each day grew harder and harder to sit though. He and his wife would eat in silence. Their once happy marriage had been shattered by the death of their youngest child. It wasn't until a week ago that he brought up the idea of them separating. He felt like he was holding her back and she cried when he brought it up. But in the end, she accepted it. Goten did look like him. It must have pained her to look at him, knowing that their son was practically identical.

There was only one problem though. The house. Neither of them wished to part with it. It had nothing to do with money or living arrangements either, it was all because Goten's room laid there undisturbed for the last 10 years. Well, except for the nights when he found Chichi rolled up on his bed after crying herself to sleep.

Tonight, she was just in the kitchen, making dinner. He looked across the table as she made Goten's plate as usual. He never complained, even if they were just throwing away food.

He said nothing as his wife sat down, only picking at his plate. He knew that he hadn't really eaten much since Goten's death. It was almost as if his stomach stopped growling.

Chichi looked like she was about to burst into tears as she looked down at her plate. Maybe it was time that he said something. "I don't want this to be the end of us."

Her eyes perked up as she looked at him from across the table. "But…but I thought that you wanted a divorce," she said. He heard her breath hitch on the word divorce and cursed himself for even bringing it up.

He sighed. "No, I didn't want one. I just…I just feel like we don't know each other anymore, Chichi. I want to know my wife again."

He watched as she began to cry. "You really mean that, Goku?"

He stood from his seat and walked over to her, pulling her face up so that he could look her in the eye. "I love you, Chichi. We've already lost Goten. Let's not lose each other." With that he leaned down and kissed her. When was the last time they had kissed? It seemed so long ago, maybe even a decade ago. His mind remembered. It was the day Goten disappeared, just before he left for Gohan's.

He felt her hands go up his chest, as his arm went down her back, pulling her in closer. He missed her. He really did miss her.

He leaned down to pick her up. Tonight, they would be together. Tonight, they would try and forget.

* * *

2 months later…

He chuckled as he looked out the large window of the ship. So this was Earth?

In the back of his head, he felt a familiar twitching. He sighed, ever since he had come into contact with Frieza, he had horrible headaches. They were so bad that he had to take medication for them. Over the last couple of months, Frieza had to order more of the shots for him. They stopped the pain in his head almost immediately.

"Has it returned?" Frieza said, almost making him jump. His master had a bad habit of coming up behind him.

"Yes, My Lord. I'll go by the med-wing and get it taken care of before we land." He stated, looking down at the planet below.

"You know your mission, Kabu. Everyone down there is our enemy. Do not leave anyone alive." Frieza said, chuckling.

Behind them, Zarbon walked forward. "I just don't see why you don't just blow up the planet."

He felt himself growl. "And deny me of my revenge!"

"Your feelings mean nothing on this subject!" The girly looking man interjected.

"Zarbon, this is Kabu's business. I have promised him this." Frieza laughed as he looked at the planet. "And I will not deny the boy his vengeance."

He felt himself chuckle. Having his master on his side had its benefits. "I will not let you down, Master." He looked back at Earth. "Son Goku's blood will spill and the rage inside of me will finally be at peace."

* * *

Trunks rolled his eyes. He always hated these dinner parties. It just wasn't the same since…since Goten died. He thought about his best friend often. And many a kid had tried to fill the void that Goten left, but none succeeded. If anything, he spent more time with Gohan and his sister after Goten passed.

Not that his mother's dinner parties were bad, they would all get together to train. After Goten died, they were all expected to train. So once a month, they got together and tracked their progress. Every one of the Z fighters and their children were expected to learn, whether they liked it or not.

He sighed again, wondering what it would have been like to have Goten around. Until Uub, he was the only guy that was training and at 20 he had other things on his mind. Like Marron. Nothing much, just little things about her that he had started to notice during his ungraceful time of puberty. It wasn't until now that he realized that he had feeling for her.

As he walked outside, he found that everyone was already there and his eye caught his father's as he made his way towards everyone else.

Just as he was about to say something, Bra came around his side, readying a punch towards the side of his face. He felt himself smirk as he dodged out of the way. Grabbing his sister's arm in midair, he let out a laugh. "You got to be faster than that."

She gave him a glare. "I'll get you one of these days!"

"I doubt it. Unless I stop training, you'll never catch up." He teased.

She fumed. "That's not fair! You have eight years on me!"

"Break it up you two." His mother said, letting out a giggle. "You're both good fighters."

"Good isn't good enough! I should be the best!" Bra huffed, crossing her arms. She was only 11 and was already as stubborn as their father.

His father let out a chuckle. "Save your strength for Pan, Bra. She's your true adversary."

His sister looked determined. "Trust me dad, she's nothing."

"That's my girl." Their father said proudly.

He only shook his head as he continued his walk towards everyone else. Everyone seemed to be in better spirts after Goku and Chichi announced that they weren't getting divorced. It seemed that they were taking baby steps to moving on. Something he needed to do.

He sighed again. But how could he? Goten was not just his best friend. They fought and trained together. They faced Buu and even fused into one person. Once he was gone, he was almost empty. No one else ever wanted to get into trouble with him. All of the girls were too chicken, well except for his own sister, but Bra practically worshiped their father. She wasn't going to take a step out of line as long as he was around.

"Trunks, are you okay?" Marron walked up behind him, making him jump.

He turned to face her, blushing more than he liked to. He really wanted to look cool, but knew he was failing horribly at it. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She didn't look convinced. "But you keep looking at the ground." She gave him a smile, making his heart melt. "How about a quick warm up session before we begin?"

His mind went completely to the gutter as he imagined them doing a very different kind of warm up. "Umm…sure."

She giggled as she grabbed his arm, ready to drag him away.

Suddenly the ground became dark; they weren't supposed to have rain. He was about to curse the weather as he looked up, only to gape at the massive ship that was starting to land.

He looked over to the other Z fighters. From the looks on their faces he knew that it had to be trouble.

His body froze as the ship floated in midair and all of the hatches opened at once, filling the Earth with soldiers.

His father ran past him. "Someone wished back Frieza!"

He had only heard that name in stories. Horrible stories that his father and Gohan has shared with him. Who was the fiend that wished back such a monstrous being?

He ran next to his father as Gohan yelled at most of the ladies to leave. His sister made to push forward, but Marron gripped her arm. Marron, Pan, and Bra may have been strong, but not enough for this. He could feel the power coming from that ship. This could not end well.

The soldiers all floated in air and separated as two beings floated down. He found himself more in awe of the other one though. He knew which one was Frieza, but the other was a mystery.

"Vegeta, Son Goku…we meet again." Frieza let out a twisted laugh.

Goku glared at the purple demon. "How are you alive?"

The monster only smirked. "Anyone can get a hold of some dragonballs. You aren't the only one that can use them."

As much as he wanted to glare at the tyrant, he was far too focused on his companion. None of his father's stories said anything about this guy.

The dark lord noticed his stares. "I see that you've noticed Kabu. He's quite a prize isn't he?" The creature chuckled.

Kabu made to move forward, his eyes never leaving Goku. All he could see from a distance was hatred. How could this guy even hate Goku, he didn't know him, did he?

Frieza's arm came to stop him. "Not yet. Let us take care of this planet first."

"Leave this planet alone." He watched as Goku and his father transformed to their super saiyan forms, followed by Gohan. He followed suit.

Kabu only laughed. "What an easy trick." He stared in shock as the boy transformed, his hair also turning the vibrant yellow that he was accustomed to. Not only that, but the power that radiated off of him was something else. He could barely believe it. His power had to be on par with Goku himself. But how was that even possible? "Master, can I just kill him now?" Master? Was this guy a slave or something?

Goku glared at the two of them. "You really think that you can take me, kid?"

Kabu only smirked. "I've wanted nothing more, for years."

His father seemed to be studying the boy. "Why are you with Frieza?"

Kabu laughed. "That is my business and no concern of yours." He watched as the man started to manipulate his Ki. "So who wants to die first?"

To Be Continued….


	3. Chapter 3

Kabu made to attack, but his master held him back again. Why was he doing this? This was supposed to be his revenge. "Let me go!" He snarled; his eyes glued to the man that stole everything away from him.

"Not yet, Kabu. Trust me, you will get what you want, but don't you wish to torture them a little?" His master said.

He growled. "I'm here to destroy Son Goku, nothing else matters!"

"So you're after me then?" He turned his eyes back to the man that had ruined his life. It was a little odd that the man had the same haircut that he used to have as a child. He had to be mocking him.

The monster that was Son Goku was staring at him with anger, but there was no way that it would match the hatred that he had for the tyrant. "Your head will suffice." He snarled.

Goku looked at him in anger and confusion. "If you want to fight me, then tell the rest of Frieza's goons to leave this planet and its people alone."

He felt disgusted, was this asshole really trying to order him around? "So you feel some kind of connection to these Earthlings?" He smirked darkly. His master was right; it would be better to torture them all.

"Don't even think about it!" The man next to Goku said, from the look of him, he had to be Son Goku's son.

Not even giving it a second thought, he fired a blast at the ground, where a bunch of bystanders had started to gather. He reveled in their screams of terror, laughing to himself as a blast was fired his way. He blocked it, sending it back down towards the chaos below him.

As he looked back over to the group of four, he knew that his master had left. This was his fight, just how he liked it.

Son Goku transformed and the shorter man to his right transformed to a higher stage, while the one that was Goku's son was going to his left. The one that had the purple hair though, had gone around his right. He smirked as he figured out what they were doing. They were all going to try and circle him. "That won't be enough." He said, gathering energy in both of his hands and firing out on both sides, clipping Goku's son in the knee. The purple haired boy dove forward, attempting to punch him, but he caught his fist before spinning the boy around and flinging him at Goku's son, causing both of them to go flying.

He was laughing so hard that he almost didn't dodge out of the way of another Ki blast. This time it was the shorter one that flew forward, landing a punch to his jaw. He growled as he spit off to the side.

The man made to send a kick to his abdomen, but he was too fast, instead grabbing his leg and twisting him up. With that he drove his legs up and kicked him in the lower back. He watched as blood drew out of his opponent's mouth. He chuckled as he flew back around with lightning speed and punched him straight in the chest before sending a barrage of Ki blasts down at the man, forcing him into the ground. He laughed as he watched the dust start to clear from below.

The purple guy seemed to fly after him. That must have been his father. He laughed, only to feel a massive blow to his back, followed by another blow, forcing him downward as well. He turned mid fall and looked up to find Son Goku glaring down at him. He smirked as he placed both of his hands together building up an attack.

Suddenly, Goku looked down at him in confusion. Now was his chance. He fired, but the lug dodged it at the last second. He growled and turned back around, only to find Goku was gone. And not just Goku, all of his companions were gone as well. He snarled, sending another blast at the buildings in the distance, the massive explosion sending debris everywhere as the sound of death filled the air.

"I guess I'll have to settle with your planet then, Son Goku." He smirked to himself. It was as Frieza said, this would be fun.

* * *

They had all converged back to Master Roshi's house. The place was in the middle of nowhere, but it always served as a safe spot. It was in the middle of the ocean after all.

Trunks looked over his own wounds, mainly just a couple of scrapes and bruises. Gohan didn't look as good as he did and that was probably because he landed on him. His father didn't look nearly as bad as Gohan. Off to the side, Goku was pacing. The orange clad warrior had used his instant transmission to get them all away from there. But from the look of it, something was clearly on his mind.

"Goku?" He asked, hoping that the strongest warrior would say something back, but it seemed to have no effect.

Across from him, his father must have noticed the odd look that Trunks was giving his rival because he was the next one to speak. "Kakarot, why did you have us run from battle?"

Again, Goku didn't answer. He only paced. It was an action that he had never seen the older saiyan do before and it really was unnerving.

"Dad?" Gohan finally spoke up, bringing Goku out of his haze. The man blinked at his son for a couple of seconds before sighing. "Dad, what's wrong?"

Goku still looked at a loss for some reason. "It's that Kabu guy."

"What about him?" His father asked, clearly annoyed that they had run from battle.

Goku turned to look at Vegeta. "It may have just been my imagination, but I could have sworn that Kabu was getting ready to use the Kamehameha."

Gohan stood up from his chair. "But that doesn't make any sense. Kabu has never seen anyone use it."

"How do we know that?" Vegeta said darkly. Everyone's eyes went to his father, wanting an explanation. "Frieza has clearly poisoned that man's mind. He must have found a way to show Kabu what Kakarot's attack looks like. Besides, Kabu clearly hates Kakarot, he must think that it would be fitting to kill you with your own move." His father said, staring down his rival.

"That does make sense, but why does he hate me so much?" Goku said. "I've never met the guy and I think I would remember if I saw another saiyan when I was in space."

"He seemed too young for that." Gohan said, surprising them. He watched as Goku's son sighed. "His Ki isn't that old. I'm just estimating, but his Ki has to be around Trunks' age, but not as young as Marron."

"That's weird." He said, having all eyes go to him. He wasn't really paying attention. He now had something else on his mind.

"Trunks." He looked over at his father to find the man looking at him questioningly.

He sighed. "It's just that that would make him the around the same age as Goten." He wished he didn't say anything because he watched both Goku and Gohan's faces fall. "Forget I said anything."

"No, Trunks…it's okay." Gohan said, not really looking any better. "It hurts all of us knowing that he's gone."

He leaned back into his seat. He was the only one still sitting, but he still couldn't get Goten off of his mind after that. He didn't even hear as everyone left him alone in the room. They must have noticed that he wanted to be alone. Anytime Goten got on his mind, he wanted to be alone.

He sighed as he stood up and looked out the window. He could see Chichi talking with Bulma and Videl out by the beach. Pan and Bra were sparring near the water and Marron was watching them. Even with the havoc of Kabu and Frieza, everything just looked too happy down there. He really wanted to get away for a little bit.

After thinking it over, he watched as everyone started to talk on that same side of the house. He could easily fly back to the city and grab some things at home. It would give him time to think.

He moved quickly. If he took too long, his father would figure out what he was going to do. Not that Vegeta didn't trust him, but when Goten died his father started keeping an eye on him. Well, more than he usually did. It was like he thought that he would also fall. That the person that wanted to hurt Goku would have also wanted to hurt him. But that day never came.

He flew off of the island and towards home. He took precautions and checked the areas around him for Ki as he flew. He figured that Goku would come after him if he ran into trouble. Not that he wanted Goku to help him. He was still trying to prove that he could be a strong, capable warrior in his own right, but that battle never came. He would have thought that this was his chance, but something about this situation didn't feel right. Sure, Kabu was out of his league, but there was something mysterious about him. His mind wanted to discover this mystery more than it wanted to fight with the man.

He was half way to Capsule Corp when he looked down. He frowned. He hated this place…but he couldn't stop himself as he landed. He walked the rows without looking. He knew the spot he wanted. He just needed to talk with him for a bit. After that he could move on to Capsule Corp.

It didn't take long before he was standing in front of the accursed stone that he had grown to hate. This was the spot where his childhood ended.

He read the name, like he always did; moving his fingers over the engraved stone before him. "Son Goten." Next he would name off the year, then the quote on the grave. "Taken by the gods too soon. Gone, but never forgotten." He sighed as he backed away from the rock before sitting down. Some would call him crazy for this, but everyone knew to leave him alone when he did this. Goku said it had to be the fusion. He and Goten shared a bond of friendship that could never be broken, even in death.

It was times like this that he thought about what life would have been like if Goten had lived. He smirked at the idea of them pranking everyone. Tournament matches, school, the discovery of girls, birthdays, training, the list just went on and on. "You know, Goten. You would have loved a fight like this." He let out half a chuckle. "Remember when we used to pretend that we were fighting some of our dad's battles. It looks like one showed up on our door step." He sighed. Part of him wanted to cry, but it had been years since he had cried in this place.

Suddenly, he felt a large Ki coming towards him and dove out of the way; hiding behind one of the graves, as the Ki came closer.

To his shock, Kabu came walking in front of him. The young saiyan looked around as he pushed the button on his scouter again. With that Trunks lowered his Ki as much as possible. Hiding himself from the readings.

Kabu made to growl in his throat. "Looks like the scum ran off." Instead of flying off though, Kabu only looked at his surroundings. "Hmmm, what is this place anyway?" Trunks watched as Kabu walked up to Goten's grave. Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to attack Kabu. If he saw Goten's last name, he would most likely destroy the grave just to piss off Goku.

But to his surprise, Kabu backed up. "Son Goten…. That name sounds familiar…but where have I heard it?"

From his hiding place Trunks raised an eyebrow. How would Kabu even know Goten's name? Did he have information on how Goten died? He needed to get this knowledge back to base. Everyone would find this interesting.

But as he backed up, he stepped on a stick. It crunched under his foot and he looked at Kabu as he turned around. He got himself into a fighting position and prepared himself. "Later Trunks, I'm trying to figure this out." He froze. Did Kabu just talk to him like he knew him? He stared at the man as he continued to look at the grave, but then something hit him. How did Kabu know his name? Frieza didn't even know his name, so how did Kabu know it?

He looked over Kabu again, this time taking in his Ki. He hadn't realized it before but there was this familiar feeling to it. Like he had felt it before, only it was less damaged. Gohan's words about Kabu's age flashed through his mind and he remembered what he said…. but that couldn't be right. Kabu couldn't be Goten. Goten wasn't a killer. Goten wouldn't work for Frieza. Goten was dead.

But the longer he stood there, the more convinced he became. "Goten?" He didn't mean for the question to leave his lips, but it did.

Kabu turned to look at him, but he looked confused. There was a genuine fear in those eyes. Those eyes seemed to call out for him, asking for his help.

But then Kabu fell to his knees, grabbing his head as he began to scream. He couldn't help but rush forward and try to help him, but the man started to pound his head into a nearby stone. It took all of Trunks's strength to pull Kabu away from hurting himself. "Goten, stop it!" But that did nothing, except make it worse, so he had to try something else. "Kabu, stop!"

Kabu stopped what he was doing completely and began to look around. "Trunks, what are you doing?" He knew that he didn't imagine the friendly tone in Kabu's voice.

"I'm the one that should be asking that," he said pulling himself away from Kabu, not knowing when the other would try and strike him. "I do have a question for you. How do you know my name?"

Kabu looked over at him and he could see the darkness was starting to return. "I just do." The man sneered.

"Then where do you come from?" He asked.

Kabu smirked darkly, "You're a curious one."

"No, I just want to know your past," he stated.

It looked like he had knocked Kabu off guard. The man didn't seem to know how to answer. "I don't have one."

He glared at Kabu. "You have to have one."

Kabu turned his back to him. "I don't have to answer you."

"It's not that hard of a question. I just want to know where you came from," he pushed.

Kabu turned back to glare at him. "I have no memory of my past. I faced a horrible trauma at the hands of your hero, Son Goku. Lord Frieza took me in and for that I am grateful. Is that enough?"

Trunks smirked. "Do you really think that? How do you know that Frieza is telling you the truth?"

"You know nothing about Lord Frieza!" Kabu growled at him.

"No. But I think I know you." That seemed to throw Kabu for a loop.

"How could you know me?" Kabu said suspiciously.

He looked up at the sky. "Meet me here tomorrow morning and I will show you what I know."

"And how do I know that you're not just planning to attack me?" Kabu said, confused at his words.

He found himself chuckling. "Because you know me better than that." And with that he took off back towards Kame House, leaving Kabu to think over his offer.


	4. Chapter 4

Trunks returned to Kame House to find everything in a wreck. It seemed that his disappearance had not gone unnoticed. He sighed. This meant that it would be harder to get to Kabu in the morning. He was going to have to leave before anyone else was up.

"You really think that you can wake up before your dad?" He looked down to find something he had not seen in a long time, well really someone. He knew that Goten was a figment of his imagination, but the last time he had seen this was when he was a child. But here he was: the child form of Goten was standing next to him, giving him a smile.

"I'll have to try." He stated. He knew he was talking to himself, but there was something comforting about it. His imagination must have come up with this as a way to comfort him if he was wrong about Kabu.

The young Goten looked at him sadly. "Trunks, do you really think that you can save me?"

That was odd; his delusions were never this depressing. "Again. All I can do is try."

"Try what?" He jumped as his father finally found him. He was given a slight glare and he looked down again to find Goten gone. "What are you doing?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

Vegeta crossed his arms. "So leaving the island was for nothing. I'm not that stupid, Trunks."

He sighed. "I went to go visit Goten."

He waited for his father to berate him, but he got nothing. His father frowned though. "Just don't give away our position."

He nodded. "I didn't." He wanted to tell his father about what had happened, but he didn't know how he would take it. Vegeta wasn't the most understanding man after all.

"Come on, your mother is worried sick." With that he followed him back to the others. He just hoped that they wouldn't ask him too many questions.

* * *

Kabu groaned. His head hurt really badly. He opened his pack of medicine and began to look at it. That guy said that Frieza must have messed with his memory, what a sham. Like his master would even try such a thing. Trunks probably just wanted to mess with him. That had to be it.

"Are you sure about that, Kabu?" The voice in his head said again.

He sighed. "I don't have time for your shit," he snapped at it.

"But what if Trunks is telling you the truth?" The child in his mind appeared before him and he growled. Why did it have to look like that guy? Was it just doing that to piss him off?

"He has every reason to lie to me. He is with Son Goku." He growled.

"But what if…" The voice started.

"Enough!" He snarled. His head hurt too much for him to be dealing with this shit. He needed to get his mind off of this. His head was in too much pain for him to think clearly.

He grabbed his meds again and quickly filled the syringe.

As he began to wrap his arm so he could find the vein, the voice began to bombard him again. "You need to stop this, Kabu. You have to meet Trunks tomorrow." The boy said again.

He growled. "I don't have to do anything. I will not betray my master." He said, stabbing himself in the arm.

The pain quickly began to fade as he fell against the bed. He felt very limp as he stared up at the ceiling. He sighed to himself. Who was he talking to earlier? He couldn't remember. Hell, he didn't even remember what he had done that day for the most part.

He chuckled lightly as the door to his room opened. He only looked up at the ceiling, not even acknowledging that someone else was there. All he could think about was his revenge. That was what was important.

He heard a dark laugh in his room, which sounded familiar. He just didn't know where he had heard it before. It wouldn't matter anyway. When he woke up this would have all been a dream. It always was.

* * *

Vegeta stared down the dinner table at his son. Trunks was acting strange and it didn't bode well with him. The boy was supposed to stay on the island, but he ran off to go to Goten's grave. His son knew better than to run off like that during this kind of situation, at least he thought he did.

He sighed. He wasn't eating much. The fact that Frieza was alive again plagued him. That monster had taken everything from him and he had finally started to take his own life back. Sure, he wasn't the ruler of his home planet, but he had a wife and two children, both whom were strong warriors in their own right. He had every reason to be proud.

Bra gave him a funny look. "Dad, are you okay?" She asked quietly.

He had to smirk at that. She knew that he wasn't one for airing his thoughts in public. He only looked back at Trunks and watched as his eyes shifted around the room a bit.

"I don't like it either." Bra said. He could hear her worry.

He hated that she had to feel that way. Bra had never seen her brother in his correct state. She had only been two when Goten had died. After that, Trunks became quiet and more of a loner. He still trained, but he talked less and less. For the longest time, it was like he was a walking corpse.

That's why Bulma started those dinner/fighting parties. She wanted Trunks to start talking with the other kids, even though most of them were girls. Trunks had gotten along well with Uub, but he could tell that it wasn't the same. His son was always comparing, which really wasn't fair. How could anyone match up to a dead man?

Trunks's face snapped downward to his side. His son looked confused. Like he was staring at someone he hadn't seen in a long time.

Worry flushed though him. This wasn't the time for that. Not while Frieza was running amuck.

Bra sighed. "We just need to keep an eye on him." She was very observant for her age. She was her mother's daughter in that respect.

He nodded, even though he felt that to be impossible. As much as he hated to admit it, Trunks was the best at hiding his Ki. If he wanted to run off, he could do it before anyone noticed. Finding him was going to be the hard part. He just hoped that he saw the gravity of the situation and stayed put.

* * *

Trunks woke up before everyone else. He smirked to himself. The fact that he had done so before his father meant that he was in the clear. He could run off for the day. He just didn't know how long it would be before his father got suspicious enough to keep an eye on him.

"You know this will get us in a lot of trouble." He heard a voice say in the back of his head.

"But it will be worth it." He said, exiting the house and flying off. The cemetery was far from here, so he accelerated across the water, forcing it to the side around him. He remembered when Goten was still around they used to race that way. The idea of Kabu being Goten was bringing back memories of his own.

He landed in the cemetery and waited. Kabu should be along any moment now. He leaned against Goten's grave stone and smiled to himself. He didn't think this would ever be an option.

Time passed and he nodded off. He did come early. Kabu would just wake him when he got there.

He snored slightly as his nightly dream started…. or really his nightly nightmare. No one would really call that a dream. Why did he have to relive that day over and over again?

It was raining. He was wearing black and he wasn't the only one, everyone was wearing black. A small casket was about to be dropped into the ground. Chichi was crying over the casket, while Goku was trying to hold her back, but was failing. He had never seen Earth's protector with his eyes so red. Gohan was sitting in the chair in front of him with his head in his hands; his elbows were on his knees. Videl's arms were wrapped around her husband.

Trunks reached up and touched his face. Tears were falling, like they always did. His mother reached over and dried them with a cloth as his sister sat on her lap. On his other side, his father sat. He looked composed, but he could tell that the whole thing was bothering him.

Laughter started and they turned around quickly. He saw Kabu and Frieza both of whom were laughing manically.

"You can't save me." Kabu said, as his face contorted into Goten's. The boy's skin was pale and it looked like he wanted to run away, but Frieza's hand was holding onto his shoulder. "Trunks…Please…"

The laughter grew louder from Frieza as the man made to fire a Ki blast at him.

He snapped awake, breathing heavily. He looked around frantically. The sun was high in the sky. Kabu hadn't come. He felt angry. Didn't they agree to today?

As he flew up, he searched the area for Kabu's Ki. It wouldn't take that long to find and he was right. It was off in the distance. He flew towards it. He wanted an explanation.

The closer he got, the more he could hear the explosions. The ground below him shook. Trees snapped back from the power that Kabu was throwing at them. He heard screams and he almost gagged when he looked down and found a fallen child. Its body was no longer recognizable.

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in." Kabu said, coming up behind him. A sadistic look was on his face; blood was spattered all over his armor.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He roared at Kabu.

Kabu just smirked. "I'm having some fun. I have to do something until that coward, Son Goku, comes out of hiding." Trunks backed away slightly. He did not like where this was going. "You'll do."

He barely had enough time to get out of the way of the blast, but failed to block a punch to the gut by Kabu. He coughed up blood as he was sent flying. Kabu was rushing towards him to attack him again, but he rolled to the side, forcing Kabu to punch the ground. Dirt and rock flew through the air as he lowered his Ki. He was going to have to plan this just right.

He heard Kabu's footsteps around him as the man chuckled. It gave him just what he needed. He lunged forward, knocking Kabu off of his feet and to the ground. He sent a punch down into the man's chest as the ground broke up around them from the force. Kabu coughed some blood out then looked up at him in anger. "You bastard! You think that you can deny me my revenge!"

"Just shut up and listen to me!" He growled.

Kabu tried to force him off, but failed. "Get off of me!"

"No! Stop this shit, Goten!" He snarled.

Kabu froze. That deer in headlights expression returned and he started to shake under him. The darkness in his eyes was growing. "No…I…"

Kabu started to move his arms around wildly and he was forced to pin them to the ground. "Kabu, snap out of it!"

Kabu looked up at him in shock. "What the fuck just happened?"

He growled. "You freaked out again. What the hell is your problem? You were supposed to meet me."

Kabu looked confused. "What are you talking about? I never agreed to betray my master like that."

He was starting to get angrier. "You and I talked about it yesterday in the cemetery, remember?"

Kabu gave him a freaked out look, almost as if the memory was flying right back at him. "Oh shit!"

He chuckled. "So now tell me why you forgot about it?"

Kabu looked very distressed for some reason. "I…I don't know. I can barely remember anything from yesterday. Only bits and pieces are left." He looked quite terrified at the idea.

"I told you. Frieza has done something to you." He started.

Kabu made to shake his head. "No…he wouldn't….he would never…"

"Just look at what he's already done. Do you really think that he's a good person, Kabu? How many people has he killed?"

"Shut up!" Kabu made to push up again and this time he wasn't expecting it so he was forced off of him. Kabu looked like he was going to run off, but he grabbed the back of his armor just in time.

"Answer the question, Kabu. Why do you hate Son Goku? Who told you to hate Son Goku?"

Kabu turned on him growling. "You know nothing!"

"Then enlighten me!" He said getting in Kabu's face. "Tell me what the great Frieza has done for you. Oh what a minute, don't tell me, you don't remember, do you?"

Kabu snarled. "That is none of your business!"

Trunks only laughed. "But it is the truth." He backed away. "Tomorrow you will meet me again, just like you had promised. Don't skip out on me this time."

"So you expect me to remember it then?" Kabu snorted.

He smirked. "Just don't do the same thing that you did last night. Break from your routine. You'll see what I mean." He looked back up at the sky. It was still the middle of the day. If he got back now, he would have some time to train. "Don't forget." He said, before flying off and leaving Kabu with his thoughts.

To Be Continued…


	5. Chapter 5

Kabu pushed by a couple of lackeys as he walked back though the ship. Part of him wanted to forget what Trunks had said, but the purple haired man had a point. It was odd that he reacted to him the way he did. If he wanted answers, Trunks may have them.

The problem was going to be Lord Frieza. Getting by him was going to be a hassle.

He knew that he couldn't say anything. Frieza would fry him if he knew that he was even being friendly with one of Son Goku's allies. The idea left a bad taste in his mouth, but if what Trunks said was true, then Frieza had a lot to explain.

"You know you can trust me." He looked down and saw a familiar sight. Now he knew where he had seen Trunks before. All of these years, for some odd reason, there was this odd child that appeared when he was alone. It would have made more sense if it was a younger him, but it wasn't.

He typed in the code for his quarters and sat down on the side of the bed. "I don't know, your ideas seem to just get me into trouble." He smirked to himself as he remembered a particular moment when he was still a child. He had listened to the other child and had gone through all of the vents on the ship. To say that Frieza was mad would be an understatement.

"Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. But you have to admit that they were a blast." The little Trunks said with a small smirk.

He was about to retort, when the door to his chambers slid open. "I thought that you would be out looking for Son Goku." Frieza said, looking down at him.

"I was. I'm just taking a rest. He'll still be on planet in the morning. You know there is no way that he can get off planet. We've sealed it off." He made to smirk. "Besides, he wouldn't want to leave his precious earthlings unprotected."

Frieza chuckled. "Good." His master made to leave. "Remember to take your medicine. I had them fill you a new prescription before we left."

"I already got it and took some." Part of that was a lie. He wasn't taking anything anymore. Not until he got his answers. He was planning on passing some off to that Trunks guy. He wanted to know what he was really taking.

Not that he completely trusted Trunks, but he was out of options. Either Frieza was telling him the truth or there was something amiss and it involved his relationship to Son Goku.

Frieza left him to his sleep for which he was grateful. He hoped that he would have more answers in the morning.

He laid back on his bed and looked up at the ceiling. There was still one more question that he wanted answered. Who was Son Goten and why did he respond the way he did when Trunks had called him that?

"I think you already know that answer." Kid Trunks said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "You just keep running away from the truth, Kabu."

"You don't know anything Trunks." He said closing his eyes. Maybe everything would be clearer in the morning.

* * *

Trunks woke up before dawn. The sun was nowhere to be found as he crept out of the room that was full of people. He could see that everyone was pretty passed out. There were a couple of people missing though. His father and Goku were gone. They had to be training.

As he snuck out, he had his Ki on the lookout for his father and Son. After yesterday, they probably wouldn't be too happy to find him up and about. Especially if he was caught making a break for it.

But his mission was far more important. He had to get to Kabu. If he was right and Kabu was Goten, it would change everything. His best friend would be alive. Goku and Chichi would have their son back. Gohan would have his brother again. All he had to do was test his theory. He already came up with an idea the night before. He just hoped that it would work.

He rounded a corner and froze. Goku and Vegeta weren't sparring. They were talking. He decided to listen in. "It's not healthy, Kakarot."

Goku only looked up at the stars. "You know that it's harder for him. If Trunks had never fused with him, he wouldn't be having these problems."

"I just want my son back. It's like he's a shell. Sometimes I see glances of the old Trunks, but what I see now it an empty husk." His father said.

"It's my fault. I was the one that taught them how to fuse." Goku started.

"No, we were out of options. If you didn't teach them that, they would have been fodder for Buu." His father said.

He almost rolled his eyes. His father really thought that he was going insane. How was that? Sure, he acted funny from time to time, but that didn't mean that he was off his rocker.

"You tell'em, Trunks!" Kid Goten said.

He shook his head and the boy disappeared again. Maybe his father was right. He shouldn't be seeing little Gotens.

But with them sitting down, he had a better chance of escape. He lowered his Ki before slipping around the island, behind Roshi's house. He was going to have to fly low for a while, but that would have to work.

He took a deep breath before he flew off, hoping that he wasn't walking into a trap.

* * *

Getting off the ship was easy. No one questioned where he was going. They all knew his mission. He had stuffed his medicine into his pocket before he had left. He still wanted Trunks to analyze it.

He remembered where the cemetery was. It wasn't that far from the ship.

As he landed, he looked around. Part of him wondered what he was doing, Frieza was the one that helped him, why was he so hell bent on listening to Trunks?

"I see you made it." He turned and there he was. It looked like he hadn't changed his clothes from the day before. Wherever Son Goku's base was, it didn't look like they had provisions.

"I didn't think you would show." Trunks joked.

"Like I would leave you hanging." He smirked.

Trunks frowned. "You did that yesterday, remember?"

He growled. "Shut up."

Trunks smirked back. "We should get going. We have a long list of places to see."

"So you're giving me a tour then?" He said as Trunks flew up.

"It's the best way to jar your memory. If you see something familiar it's going to help you." Trunks stated.

"What if I'm just collecting information for Frieza?" He asked, giving Trunks a glare.

"We'll have to see then." Trunks said, not backing down.

He nodded as he jumped up and made to follow him. He wondered where they were going. He didn't ask any questions, he only looked down. He could see the destruction that he had caused from the day before. Part of him felt guilty. Those people really didn't deserve what he had done. It just seemed like a good idea at the time. It was the only way to get under Son Goku's skin.

Trunks motioned for them to land and he looked around the compound. It was a strange round, yellow building, kind of like a dome. He had seen it the day before. But it didn't feel like that was only time he had seen it. "What is this place?"

Trunks chuckled as he walked past him. "My house." He watched as his companion punched a code into the door, which caused it to open. Trunks walked in and he followed. It was probably a better idea for them to be inside anyway. It was too dangerous to be out in the open.

The moment he stepped inside though, his head started to hurt. He looked over at the staircase and a weird vision of two kids appeared before him. He could see himself as a child. It was him and the child Trunks. He had no idea where they were going, but they both had sneaky looks on their faces.

"What is it?" Trunks asked and the vision disappeared.

He shook his head. "I don't know."

Trunks looked like he didn't believe him. "Was it one of your memories?"

"It might be. Who knows." He said as his head began to pound.

Trunks gave him a small smile. "Come on, there's more to this than the front door."

He nodded. While his headache was annoying, he wasn't going to fight it. If these were really his memories only good could from it. At least that's what he told himself.

He followed Trunks into another room. It looked like a living room. He scanned the room, wondering if another vision would appear, but nothing came.

But as he looked around, his eyes landed on a set of pictures on the wall. He walked away from Trunks and looked over everyone there. It looked like it had to be Trunks's family. Just as he thought, the child he had seen all of these years was standing there. So that kid wasn't just a figure of his imagination.

He looked around the picture, taking in some of the other faces. He saw the man that he had fought with the day before. He didn't look like he wanted to have his picture taken. He almost laughed at the fact that he was trying to hold his daughter and she was pulling on his face. "Is your dad still a stick in the mud?" He asked with a smile on his face.

Trunks laughed. "You would think that he would lighten up a bit."

"Remember the time we turned the gravity room off while he was in the middle of training and all of the droids fell apart?" He said with a goofy grin on his face.

"Mom wanted to murder us. It took her 3 weeks to fix everything." Trunks laughed.

"Only for us to do it again. I swear all of your ideas got us trouble." He said.

"But it was still a blast." His companion said, clearly smiling at him.

He looked away from the picture to look at Trunks. Was all of this real? Did he really remember that? "What else?"

"So you believe me then?" Trunks said.

He found himself placing his arm behind his head as he looked at his friend sheepishly. "Maybe."

Trunks seemed to freeze as he looked at him, before he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" He asked, looking at Trunks in confusion.

"Nothing." Trunks said trying to stop laughing, but failing miserably.

He looked at his companion and almost growled. "If it's nothing, why are you laughing?"

Trunks didn't answer him, so he was forced to take action. He tackled the purple haired man to the ground, maybe a little force would make him serious again.

Trunks stopped laughing and looked up at him seriously. He was going to move when he felt something. Something he didn't understand. It was strange, almost as if he could sense Trunks's life force.

His friend seemed to understand and suddenly he felt it disappear and then flare up. "What is that?"

"That's Ki. Try and do the same thing to yours." Trunks said quietly.

He took a deep breath as he looked around for this Ki thing. It took him a couple of minutes, but he ended up finding it. He felt himself lock up. It was almost like meeting an old friend. He raised it a little almost smirking to himself as he felt his power level grow. Below him Trunks did the same thing. It was odd as the Ki's mixed he felt a twinge of something else. There was something very familiar about the mixing, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"We fused more than once." Trunks had clearly read his expression.

"Fused?" As he said the word, he pictured it. The image of two kids doing a funny little dance came to mind, followed by the two becoming one person. He felt his eyes go wide as he pulled himself off of Trunks. "Wow."

"You remember?" Trunks was smirking to himself now.

"Yeah." He felt himself lean against the walk as he sat back. "What else?"

"Well, we could look around this place or…"

"Or?" He questioned.

"Or we could go to your house. If you're ready for that…" Trunks said, clearly happy with himself.

He was going to say something as he grabbed his head. "I wish that this stinging would go away."

"You have a headache?" Trunks seemed confused by the notion.

"Yeah, I have medicine for it, but I stopped taking it." He then reached into his pocket. "That reminds me, I wanted you to have it looked at."

He passed it over to Trunks, but the other looked very confused. "I don't understand."

"Why?"

"Saiyans don't get headaches." Trunks said with a straight face.

"Then why does my head hurt?" He asked.

Trunks looked down at the drug in his hand. "I don't know, but I think I have a theory." He watched his friend stand up. "How about we go test it?"

To Be Continued…


	6. Chapter 6

Vegeta watched as Bulma began to walk around the house frantically. Trunks had run off again. He sighed. Didn't Trunks understand the gravity of the situation? This wasn't one of his and Goten's old pranks. This was Frieza taking over Earth in his search for revenge against Kakarot.

He grumbled to himself as Bulma began to yell at him. "Go and find him!"

"I don't know where to start." He lied. He knew that Trunks had to have gone back to Goten's grave.

He looked out the window, just to see Bra land a kick to Pan's stomach and smirked. Why couldn't Trunks be like Bra? The girl was even more motivated to train than the boy was.

Across from the girls, he could see Kakarot talking things over with Gohan. The two of them looked on edge and he sighed. Trunks should have been on edge as well. This business of running off was going to be the death of him.

Suddenly, he froze. He didn't even think as he ran out of the house and flew off. He had felt Trunks's Ki flare, it was only for a couple of seconds and no one would have noticed it if they weren't looking for it.

Only a couple of seconds later, did he feel Kabu's Ki near it. He growled loudly as he flew faster. His son had to be in trouble. He just hoped that he wasn't too late.

* * *

Kabu followed Trunks into what looked like a laboratory. It was odd. He didn't remember that this place had one of these till a couple of moments ago. Why did he think that he could bring his drugs here? Was something in the back of his memory trying to tell him the truth?

He watched as Trunks looked over the syringe and liquid vial in front of him. "Why is the dose so high?"

He shrugged. "I've been taking a pretty big dose for a while. Frieza said that my headaches were getting worse."

"I do have a question." Trunks said, removing the top of the vial and pouring some into some kind of port on the side of a huge machine.

"What?" He said, leaning against the wall.

Trunks looked back at him. "When do you usually have headaches?"

"Besides now?" He said, slightly annoyed.

"I'm just trying to put the pieces together, that's all. Do you have them frequently?" Trunks asked, turning back to the machine and punching something in.

"Sometimes. Usually after I've been gone from base for a while." He stated, crossing his arms and wondering what Trunks's point was.

Trunks smirked a little. "So mainly when you haven't taken it in a while. When was the last time you took it?"

Now he really did have to think about that. When was the last time he took it? "I don't know."

"Well, try to remember." Trunks urged.

He sighed as he tried to think, but there was nothing. It was almost as if the previous week hadn't even happened. He remembered bits and pieces, but there were dark spots everywhere. How had he not noticed this before? "I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?" Trunks sounded a little annoyed with him.

"All I see is darkness." He was shocked.

"Which means that Frieza has been messing with your mind to this day." Trunks said smugly.

He tried to rack his brain for an answer. He even tried to push on the darkness, but nothing seemed to be happening. He closed his eyes and strangely enough he saw Frieza. He wanted to question why he was there, when a hand reached forward to touch him. He felt dirty for some reason. He wanted to back up, but there was a wall around behind him. He had nowhere to go. He started to shake in fear. He felt himself start to slide down the wall as tears started to well up in his eyes. "Please…no…not again…"

"Goten!" He heard someone say the name, forcing Frieza to disappear into the shadows. But instead of calming him, the shadows moved in a disturbing way. He could hear himself, a child version of himself, crying out in pain and fear as the shadows twisted around him.

"KABU!" The darkness disappeared, Trunks was in front of him. He was breathing hard as his eyes darted around the room. He felt tears welling up in his eyes. He had no idea what he had just seen, but it terrified him. What was going on? "What was that?"

"I…I don't…" He launched himself at the other man, pulling him into a hug. He just wanted to feel something real; something that wasn't that darkness.

"It's okay, Kabu." Trunks said quietly. It was almost as if he understood what he was going through. "Maybe we should stop for the day?"

He shook his head. "No…I can't stop now. Not now that I know what I know." He pulled himself away from the hug and tried to pull himself back up. "Let's move on."

Trunks gave him a small smile. "If you think you're up to it." His friend looked back at the machine. "It's going to be a while before we get results. Why don't we go pass the time?"

He felt himself cock his head to the side. "Pass the time?"

Trunks laughed as he grabbed his hand. "Trust me."

* * *

Vegeta was shocked. Capsule Corp? Why were they here? He looked around, waiting to see the signs of battle, but there was nothing. It was actually rather quiet.

He landed near his house and began looking for Trunks's Ki. He was starting to think that his son had been kidnapped, when he heard a very familiar rumbling noise. Someone was in his gravity room.

Was Trunks running off to train on his own? He almost smirked to himself. The boy really was his child. He made his way closer to the gravity room and he felt Kabu's Ki flare again, this time against Trunks. He ran up to the gravity room and looked in the small window in the door. He had to know what they were doing before he stepped in.

He watched to his confusion as the two of them fought against each other. Kabu would get the upper hand, but then Trunks would kick him in the stomach sending him flying into the wall. It was almost as if they were the same level, which didn't make any sense. Kabu seemed so strong the first time they had met, but maybe it was just the boy's anger. Now he seemed to be losing to Trunks. He smirked to himself as Kabu flew back at Trunks, lunging into him and knocking them both to the floor.

The way they landed wiped the smirk off of his face. Kabu was on top of Trunks, but it looked like he was straddling his hips. Kabu's arms were going down over Trunks's head and the two of them were looking into each other's eyes.

He moved away from the window in shock. That couldn't be right. Trunks couldn't be…He just couldn't. The boy liked Marron. Besides, Kabu was an enemy.

He moved back to the window, and found that Kabu had gotten off of Trunks, much to his relief. He watched as they started to talk, but he couldn't hear a thing. Why was Trunks being so friendly? Kabu was with Frieza. He couldn't be trusted.

Then to his shock, the two of them laughed. They looked exhausted as Kabu offered his hand to help Trunks up. But Kabu had pulled Trunks up too fast and his son landed with his hands on Kabu's chest. The two of them only stared at each other, looking straight into each other's eyes.

His mind was screaming over and over again. What the hell? He watched as they separated in an awkward way. Then they both turned towards the door. He jumped down and hid under the ramp.

"You were right. That was fun." He heard Kabu say. "So what do we do now?"

Trunks laughed. "It's going to be a while till we have results on that." He watched his son walk forward and look around. "I think I have an idea though." He didn't like the sneaky look on his son's face.

"So where to?" Kabu seemed to be up for anything that Trunks wanted him to do, which was odd.

Trunks made to fly. "Just follow me." Trunks turned his back to Kabu and he watched the young saiyan.

Kabu only smirked. "Lead the way." He jumped up and the two of them started to fly away. He could even hear the two of them laughing as they zoomed off.

He walked out behind the ramp, crossed his arms, and looked off in the direction where his son had gone. "What mess have you gotten yourself into, Trunks?"

* * *

Trunks couldn't stop laughing. He hadn't had this much fun in ages. He had dreamed of what it would be like to have Goten back and now he basically did. Sure, it would be a while before he could start calling Kabu Goten again, but he would take it.

They landed just outside a very nice house near the university. "What is this place?" Kabu asked, looking around.

He smiled. "This is your brother's house."

"I have a brother?" Kabu looked at him dumbfounded.

"Yeah, he is older than you. He lives here with his wife and your niece." Trunks walked up to the door and found that it was locked. He almost chuckled, it was like Gohan and Videl to lock everything up, even if they lived in the safest neighborhood in the city.

He sighed and started to form a Ki blast, forcing the door off of its hinges. "Hey! Can't you just get in normally?!" Kabu asked.

"Well, they kind of locked up. They aren't even here." He said walking in.

Kabu still looked a little annoyed. "But isn't that breaking and entering?"

"This is from the guy that has eradicated planets." He said, turning back to look at Kabu.

Kabu just sighed. "Whatever, let's just get this over with. Gohan is not going to be happy about this."

Trunks only laughed and he wondered why he was laughing. "Come on, we have a lot to see."

He only shook his head, even as he walked forward. The house didn't have the same effect that Trunks's house had. He didn't see the younger versions of himself and Trunks running around. But there was still this faint familiar feeling in the air. Maybe they had remodeled a little.

Trunks led him into the living room and he noticed a wall of photos again. He looked over them, one had the man he fought the day before in it, the son of Son Goku. He looked to the woman to his right. She must have been his wife. There was a young girl between them.

He backed away. This couldn't be right. If this was his brother's house and that man was Son Goku's son, wouldn't that make him also Son Goku's son? He looked over at Trunks for answers, but he didn't see him.

Instead, they were. The kid Trunks and the kid him were hiding behind the couch, both of them were giggling quietly to themselves. He wondered what was going on until he watched Gohan come in with what looked like a younger version of his wife. The two of them were laughing…until they sat on the couch, a loud farting noise coming from the couch. He watched both Gohan and Videl stand up instantly as trunk and himself ran off laughing. "I'm going to kill you two!" He heard Gohan yell after them as he held a woopy cushion. The scene disappeared and he felt himself smile at it.

Trunks laughed next to him. "Anything interesting?"

"Did we play tricks on Gohan and Videl often?" He said laughing to himself.

Trunks smirked. "All of the time, I think they started to despise seeing the two of us together." He watched as Trunks picked up another photo from a nearby table. "This one is a lot older than the last one." He watched as Trunks tossed it.

"Hey, don't be throwing around my brother's things!" He stated.

Trunks only chuckled. He sent him a glare as he looked down at the picture that he had just caught. Before he knew what he was doing, he started to run his fingers over the photo before him. "What do you see?"

"Gohan…Videl…" There was a strange man with a strange hair cut next to her and what looked like a pile of chewing gum. "Mr. Satan…Majin Buu…" His eyes traveled downward. "Pan…"

"That's right." Trunks said, but he wasn't paying attention. A new assortment of memories began to surface. Training with his brother, the tournament, fighting with Buu, Pan's birth, everything was hitting him quickly and he was forced to stand there and take it. "Earth to Kabu." Trunks said trying to get his attention, even going as far as to move his hand in front of his face.

"Sorry. …Everything just feels like it's coming in really fast." He said.

Trunks only smiled, as the clock behind them started to let out a series of long donging sounds. "I didn't think that it was that late." He watched as Trunks walked over to the window. The sun was starting to go down. "Why don't we stop for today? We can pick up where we were tomorrow."

He felt himself smile. He was kind of tired. It must have taken a lot out of him to remember this much. "Do you wish to meet at the same place?"

Trunks nodded. "I think we have enough from here. We can meet back at the cemetery." He nodded back as he watched Trunks smirk. "I've missed you, you know that?"

As he looked his friend in the eye, he felt that same connection that he felt earlier. "I've missed you too."

"So tomorrow?" Trunks said, backing away.

He didn't want to move. Hell, he didn't want Trunks to leave. "Tomorrow." But they had no choice. He had to return to Frieza, just as Trunks had to return to his family.

The two walked out of the house together, only giving each other glances. He swore that they stood there in silence for a good 5 to 10 minutes. He didn't want to be separated from him, but he knew that he had to. "At the cemetery?"

"Yeah…at the cemetery…."

With that he made to fly off, trying not to look back at his long lost friend.

* * *

"Vegeta, calm down." He heard Kakarot say, but he didn't know if he could.

"There has to be an explanation, Trunks would not just turn on us." Gohan said.

He looked back up at the sky as he felt Trunks start to come in closer. He even watched the boy land. He wanted to wipe that smirk off of his face.

"Oh, hi dad." He froze, something was off, really off.

"Where have you been?"

"I went by the house. I wanted to look at some things." Trunks let out a laugh and he just stared at him. When was the last time his son had laughed like that?

"You know the danger…" He started.

Trunks laughed midsentence, but only looked off to his side. He was staring down at the ground and nothing was there. It was like the boy had finally gone crazy. What had Kabu done to him? "You know that's not a bad idea."

"Trunks, are you okay?" Gohan asked, but it looked like Trunks wasn't paying attention. He just walked away as he talked to the nothingness.

He looked down at the ground. Whatever, Kabu had done, he would pay for it.

To Be Continued…


	7. Chapter 7

All throughout dinner, he could not stop laughing. The things that the little Goten were saying were just too funny. It seemed that the more Kabu remembered, the happier the little Goten became.

"Trunks, why can't we go now?" The small Goten said, pouting.

He chuckled. "You know the answer to that already."

The little Goten sighed and then looked down at the dinner table. "I just want to be myself again."

He frowned as he looked down at his own food. What if it didn't work? What would he do if Kabu didn't remember that he was Goten? Sure, Kabu's memories were coming quickly, but that didn't mean that all of his work couldn't be destroyed. Frieza had erased those memories to begin with. He could always erase them again.

He sighed as he picked at his plate. He hoped that Kabu was safe and that Frieza couldn't get to him. Because it would all be over it he did.

"Trunks, what's wrong?" He heard his mother say to him, knocking him out of his thoughts.

He shook his head. This wasn't the time to be falling to pieces. "Nothing. I just have a headache." He said without thinking.

He could feel everyone's eyes on him at this point. Saiyans didn't get headaches and they all knew that. "Do you need anything for it?"

"Yeah, I think I'm going to go and lie down." He said, getting up from the table and heading upstairs. He didn't want to be stared at anymore. He had to think through how he was going to do everything tomorrow.

* * *

Kabu looked up the ceiling of his room. The longer he was with Trunks, the more convinced he was that he was this Son Goten. But that gave him even more questions. If he was Son Goten, that made him the son of Son Goku, the man that he was destined to kill, or at least that's what Frieza had told him. The more he thought about it, it sounded like Frieza wanted him to do his dirty work.

He pulled himself up in his bed. He thought back to that moment that he had met Son Goku. The man looked like he wanted to kill him, but that was only after he had attacked the people of this planet. Going back to the conversation, he could tell that there was no love lost between Goku and Frieza. They had a history. Now he just had to figure out where he fit into all of this.

He heard his door open, which was odd. It was late for visitors. "Oh, Kabu. I didn't expect you to be up." Frieza said looking around the room. Why was he here?

"I've been having a bad headache all night." He stated, Frieza froze.

"Is that so? Haven't you been taking your medication?" The galactic tyrant asked.

"No, I can't find where I put it. It must have been knocked off of me when I was fighting Son Goku." He made sure to make it sound like he was still saying Goku's name with venom.

Frieza backed up a little. "Well, I'll make sure that you get some more tomorrow morning. Why don't you get some sleep? We should find them soon."

He nodded and made to lay back down, and Frieza walked back out the door. He wondered again why he had come here. There was no reason for Frieza to be here this late at night. That and he looked like he didn't like the idea of him being without his meds.

"He's a bad guy, Kabu." He looked down at the mini Trunks, who looked like he was pouting.

"I think you're right, Trunks." He said back up that the ceiling.

* * *

Goku sighed as he looked over at his human friends. They all looked wary about the fight ahead of them. Krillin seemed to be the most shaken by the fact that Frieza was alive again. He didn't really blame his best friend. Goku still remembered Krillin's death clear as day. How could he not? It was the first time he turned into a Super Saiyan after all.

"Everything is going to be fine." He said, putting his hand on Krillin's shoulder.

Krillin sighed. "That's easy for you to say. He's never killed you."

"No, but he did try." Goku said, not really knowing what else to say.

"I just want to know why you ran." Tien stated, crossing his arms and looking him over. "Has Frieza really gotten that strong?"

Goku forgot that he was neglecting his friends. He had spent most of his time talking things over with Vegeta, Gohan, and Trunks that it hadn't even crossed his mind. "He's stronger, but I have no idea how much stronger he is." He said. "But he isn't the one I want to know about."

"Who would that be?" Yamcha said, leaning back against a wall.

"That Kabu guy, did you notice him?" He asked.

Yamcha shook his head, but both Krillin and Tien nodded. "What about him?" Tien asked.

Goku sighed. "He wants me dead."

"Why?" Yamcha asked.

Again, Goku sighed. "He said something about revenge. I don't know what happened but Frieza must have done or said something to him."

"I wouldn't put it past that bastard." Goku turned his head to find Vegeta walking outside.

Goku gave Vegeta a nod while the others just stared. To this day, Tien and Yamcha still didn't like the saiyan Prince. Krillin didn't like him either, but he was less likely to say anything about it.

"So do we have a plan yet?" Krillin asked, trying to get them all on the same page.

Vegeta crossed his arms. "All we can do is wait for Frieza to make the first move. His armies are probably at work, but that Kabu is the real mystery."

Goku nodded. "I was just talking about him. I just want to know what his problem is."

Vegeta frowned. "I will say that the boy is quite strong for his age. His father must have been one hell of a warrior." Vegeta sighed as he looked down at the ground. "It's all so strange."

Goku had never seen Vegeta look this put out before. Vegeta had only trusted him and Gohan with Trunks's actions.

But the humans seemed to pick up on this and before he could stop them, Tien spoke. "Speaking of strange, where has Trunks been going?"

"Yeah, I sensed him off of the island more than once." Yamcha said, turning to Krillin.

Goku cleared his throat. "Why don't we talk about something else?" He looked over at Vegeta and saw a look of gratitude there. "Has anyone heard anything from Piccolo?"

That seemed to distract them. Piccolo had not been with them when chaos was unleashed. He wondered if his old friend was okay. He couldn't sense him, but that didn't mean anything.

"No, we haven't heard anything, at least I haven't." Yamcha said.

Goku looked between Tien and Krillin to find no answer. He sighed. It looked like Piccolo was on his own. Hopefully, his friend was still alive. They would need the Dragonballs after this.

Vegeta cleared his throat and that caught Goku's attention. "Sorry guys, but Vegeta and I are going to go do some training."

Goku didn't look back at them as he made off into the sky and across the water. They could train above the waves. They had to get stronger. If they didn't, they would lose and he wasn't going to lose to someone like Frieza.

Back on the island, Tien turned back to look at Krillin and Yamcha. "I don't like this."

"Don't like what?" Yamcha asked, taking a seat on the ground.

Tien glared at him. "I hate having to sit around and watch those two be buddy-buddy. For once we should be the ones taking out that bad guy."

Krillin only laughed. "If you didn't notice, Yamcha and I retired from fighting a long time ago."

"That may be good enough for the two of you, but not for me." Tien said, before flying off.

"That guy needs to lighten up." Yamcha said.

Krillin sighed. "He is right you know. We're all washed up. Ever since Vegeta showed up, Goku rarely spends time with the rest of us."

Yamcha only frowned. "Don't get me started on Vegeta."

Krillin smirked. "You know, losing Bulma was your own fault."

Yamcha rolled his eyes. "How was I supposed to know that she was going to move on with him of all people?"

"You were the one that cheated on her. He was the closest person around." Krillin stated, looking at Yamcha in annoyance.

"So what are you saying?" Yamcha asked.

Krillin sighed. "I'm going after Tien. I'm tired of being in the background." With that the bald man flew off, leaving Yamcha alone.

Yamcha sighed. "You just couldn't let it go, could you?" He flew up and followed Krillin, cursing both of his bald friends the entire time.

* * *

She had waited for them to leave. Bra found herself to be very annoyed as she listened in. That idiot Yamcha had to be delusional. There was no way that her mother would have stayed with someone like that. She couldn't believe that her mother used to date that ungrateful bastard.

"I'm just glad they are gone. I thought they would never leave." Pan said, with a lot of frustration in her voice.

She laughed. "But at least we now know what to go after." Bra said with a smirk.

Pan laughed. "I can't believe that you convinced blondie to go out with us."

"It's just a supply run." Bra giggled with her friend.

"It is only a supply run." Marron said, walking out to find them looking at her in shock. They didn't know Marron had been standing there. "And you will not go running after the enemy. That job belongs to our fathers."

Bra just glared at her, then smirked. "You mean my father and Pan's father. What was your father doing when they first arrived?" She snapped at Marron. She hated the blonde.

"My father and mother did what they could!" Marron snapped at her.

"So they fled. That would make sense. They are only human." She sneered and then dodged a smack from Marron.

"You know nothing! You're just a spoiled little brat!" Marron shrieked at her.

She sighed, even egging on Marron was growing tiresome. She wanted a real challenge. She couldn't believe that her brother wanted this girl. She was practically a rag doll. "I would be nice to me, if I were you. Didn't you want to play kissy face with my brother?" She smirked as Marron turned red.

Marron gapped at her before turning away. "We will go and get supplies and there will be no funny business."

Pan giggled. "Marron and Trunks, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…"

Marron turned even redder and Bra leaned over and gave Pan a high five. She didn't understand why Marron was even an option for her brother. There had to be someone else.

Marron glared at the two of them. "You think it's funny, but someday a guy will come around that you'll like and then we will see who is laughing. Now let's go. I want to be back before the sun comes up."

Bra sighed. It was rather late. She hoped that they would see some action though. She just wanted a good fight. That wasn't asking for much, was it? She sighed again, then laughed to herself. Marron had no idea what she was talking about. No man would ever catch her eye. She was the Princess of All Saiyans; no human would ever be good enough. It was a shame really. If only their home planet was still around. Then maybe she could have found herself a proper warrior. The way things looked right now, it looked like she would have to settle for some earth bound weakling. Life just wasn't fair, was it?

To Be Continued…


	8. Chapter 8

He left the ship early. It was still dark, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to stay here with Frieza running about. He was set to meet Trunks back at the cemetery and he didn't want to be late. Sure, it took Trunks a lot longer to sneak away than it did him, but that was because his family had to be suspicious and afraid. They had seen what he had done.

He flew quickly to the spot, looking down at the city below him. Things looked different, but the same. There were changes to the streets below, mainly the craters and fires that were still smoldering from his attack 2 days ago.

He looked to his side as he flew, the Mini-Trunks was flying next to him laughing. It was a strange sight to see. He had seen the kid do a lot of things, but it was like he was doing more than before. Maybe it was because he was in contact with the real Trunks again.

The city came to an end and he saw the terrain change quickly. It was like it just suddenly stopped. He saw a couple of people move below them and flew downward. He wondered who would be out this early. As he got closer, he noticed that it was 3 girls. He landed in front of them and looked them over.

All three of them had moved into a fighting stance. The first he remembered from Trunks's house. It was his sister, Bra. To her right was his niece, Pan. Then there was the blonde who looked to be the oldest.

Bra and Pan seemed to be ready to fight, but the blonde was cautious. "We need to run! Our dads told us that we can't take him!"

But Bra and Pan didn't seem to listen. Instead they ran to attack him. He caught both of their fists just as they were about to strike. Both of them looked at him in shock as he pushed them back. They both fell to the ground and it looked like the blonde was going to attack next. But instead she was trying to pull them back.

Bra rushed forward and tried to attack him again, this time going for a kick to the face. He grabbed her leg and just stared at her for a second. Before giving her a smirk. "Not too bad."

She turned red for a second, before pulling her leg free from his grasp. "If you think that's good, wait till you see this!"

She was starting to power up an attack and he prepared himself. His heart was moving a mile a minute. Never had he felt this excited as he watched her power up.

But like all good things, someone had to step in and stop it. "Bra, we have to go!" The blonde said fearfully.

"But we have to face the enemy! A saiyan does not run from battle!" Bra stated, sounding like her father.

"We need to get back to the others, besides he could kill us easily if he wanted!" Now he remembered this girl. This was Krillin's daughter; he believed her name was Melon or something like that.

"Maybe for someone that is human like you, but I am a warrior!" Bra growled.

He stood there as he took in her words. She was a warrior; he could really see that now that he was looking her over. Everything about her screamed it. But the thing that stood out to him was her pride. It was practically coming off of her in waves and it was starting to make him feel funny.

"You take that back!" The blonde Melon screamed back.

"Make me!" Bra chuckled darkly, but he noticed something was off.

He walked up behind her and put her hands on her hips. She jumped slightly then turned her eyes too look at him. "Trust me." He moved her body into a different fighting stance and she made a noise in the back of her throat. "That should do." He said, whispering down into her ear as the most wonderful smell went through his nose.

She was completely red at this point, which was to his liking. "Then what?"

"Oh come on!" Pan said annoyed as she looked between the two of them.

He was about to smirk, when he sensed them. A couple of Frieza's soldiers. He cursed mentally. He was really enjoying himself. "Leave this place. This is no place for anyone."

"What? Why?" Bra stuttered as he removed his hands from her hips.

"They are coming." He stated. "Now return home."

He flew back up. He could easily give them some time. The three of them would be in the clear. Even if he found himself only caring about the one with blue hair. He sighed. Blue really was a beautiful color.

* * *

Trunks sat in the kitchen at Kame House, but it was not like he wanted to. It seemed like everyone had their eyes on him now. He was going to have to be really sneaky to get out of here today. He knew that he need to check with Kabu and the next stop he had in mind would be a doozy. He just hoped that Kabu was up for it. He didn't want to push him too far.

"It's okay if you push me, Trunks." He couldn't help but smile at the mini-Goten as he sat next to him.

"I don't know if that's for the best." He stated.

"Trunks?" He found his mother looking at him. She was worried. "Son, maybe we need to have a talk. Is there anything you want to get off your chest?"

He shook his head. "I'm fine, mom."

Before she could continue, he heard three squeals from the front door. He stood up and went to see what the commotion was. Pan and his sister were blushing and giggling amongst themselves. Marron looked livid.

"Did you see how serious he was?" Pan said, teasing his sister.

"Forget that, did you feel the power he had when he pushed us back. He was holding back, but you could just feel it coming off of him." Bra said, giggling to herself.

"He's the enemy, stop thinking about him like that!" Marron put in.

He could pretty much gather who they ran into. Kabu must have come across them. He looked over at Pan and felt a little sick to his stomach. If that girl only knew that she was talking that way about her uncle. Bra was weird because it was his sister, but Marron seemed unaffected.

"What are you three prattling on about?" He heard his father say as he walked in with a bunch of the other Z fighters.

Bulma giggled. "I think the two of them have a crush on someone."

"It's not our fault that he's that hot." Pan giggled.

Bra sighed. "Why do the evil ones have to be so damn attractive?"

His mother only seemed to laugh as she looked at his father. He rolled his eyes. "Why were the three of you running around out there anyway?"

Bra turned on him. "Like you're one to talk. You've been leaving early every day and coming back late."

He glared at her. "That is none of your business." He turned to stalk off, but found that Goku was standing in his way.

"Trunks, we need to talk." He looked around the room and found that everyone was looking at him like he was an enemy.

"I can't right now. I have somewhere to be." He made to push past them. He needed to find Kabu.

"Tell us why you are meeting with Kabu." Gohan said. "Did he promise you something?"

He glared at him. They knew he was meeting Kabu. This couldn't be good.

"Trunks, he's dangerous. Look at all of the people that he's killed." His mother started.

"Like you're one to talk." She backed away from him, looking hurt by his words.

"Trunks, that is no way to talk to your mother." He looked over at his father. "Now tell us the truth."

He felt backed against the wall with no way out. "I can't do that." It wasn't the right time. If they knew who Kabu really was, they would all want to talk to him. That would overload Kabu with too many memories and he had already seen that happen. He had to do it slowly.

He watched as they made forward to hold him against the wall. His instincts kicked in and he made to attack, sending a blast through the house that made a huge hole in the wall. He growled.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" His father growled at him. "What has Kabu done to you?!"

He blasted the ceiling, making himself an exit. He flew up quickly and out before anyone could say anything. "He hasn't done anything. You all are crazy!"

He could hear everyone calling out to him, but he didn't care. They would understand when all of this was over. This was for everyone's sakes.

He continued to fly towards the cemetery. He didn't know why he was crying. Maybe it was the fact that everyone distrusted him so much. His family should have at least trusted him more than that.

He landed in the cemetery and fell to his knees. How could they betray him like this? "Trunks?"

He looked up to find Kabu standing in front of him. "What's wrong?"

He lunged forward, making the man fall to the ground as he landed on top of him. "I…"

Kabu gave him a sad smile and pulled him down into a hug. "What has happened, Trunks?"

The fact that Kabu was here was grounding in a way. "They found out I was meeting you. They think that I was trying to betray them."

Kabu looked a little taken back. "You haven't told them who you think I am?"

"No. I didn't want them to overdo it with you. If they knew the truth, they…" He began.

Kabu chuckled. "Why don't we make it look that way?"

He pulled himself and looked down at Kabu. "What do you…?"

"We make it look like you have betrayed them. It will be the best prank we have ever conceived." Kabu looked up at him mischievously.

For the first time that morning, he smiled. "I'm listening."

Kabu smirked. "Well, maybe you should start calling me Lord Kabu."

"That would make my dad's head explode."

"Not only that, you should come back to Frieza's base with me." Kabu said. He gave him a wary look, when Kabu frowned. "Having two heads is better than one and I don't think that Frieza is being honest with me. It's going to take the two of us to figure this out."

"What do you mean? You know that you're my childhood friend." He said.

"I know that, I'm just wondering how Frieza got me off this planet and made me forget everything. If I exist, then there must be others." Kabu stated.

He felt himself laugh. "You sound like your father."

"You mean that I sound like Son Goku." He looked at Kabu in shock. Did he really remember being Goten?

"How do you know that?" He smirked.

"Son Gohan is my brother, so it is safe to assume that Son Goku would be my father." Kabu stated.

He chuckled. "When did you get this smart?"

This time Kabu was the one that laughed. "I was always this smart. How many times did I beat you in Risk?"

He glared at him. "If I remember right, I was the Risk champion."

"In your dreams." Kabu said. "I think I know where we can find a copy of the game, let's see who's the real master of Risk."

He chuckled. "Lead the way then." He got up off of Kabu and watched as the other got to his feet.

They flew off in a direction that surprised him. Kabu was going to the exact place he had planned for today. He smirked to himself. Soon, he knew that he would have Goten back. He just had to.

"So why this way?" He asked.

"I don't know. Something is just telling me that I need to go this way." Kabu looked at him. "Is there something you know that I don't?"

He smirked. "We'll see about that."

As they flew, he could see the sun was starting to come up. There amongst the trees, he could see the place. He watched as Kabu made to land and followed suit. "So do you know what this place is?" He asked Kabu.

Kabu looked at the house in front of them. "I…" He walked up to the front door and opened it quickly. His eyes were scanning everything; there were what felt like thousands of memories going through his head. Everything from Kid Trunks and him playing games to watching a woman that had to be his mother making dinner to his father getting scolded by his mother.  _"Son Goku, you will set a good example for your son!" "But Chichi, Goten is fine."_

He rolled that name around his head for a little bit. Thinking about it before he said it. "Son Goten…"

"Yes?" Trunks looked excited.

But he walked away, as he began to touch the walls. There was a familiar scent of homemade cooking that filled the home and his memories. Some of it was making his mouth water.

He looked at a photo of four people. "Gohan…Mom…" He looked at the goofy look on Son Goku's face. "Dad…" His eyes traveled to the last person. "Me…"

Trunks walked over to him. "Do you get it now?"

He turned around and headed down a hall quickly, stopping as he came face to face with a closed door. His hand shook as it headed toward the door knob. He needed to see what was behind it. He turned the knob slowly and the door opened, revealing the room of a small boy. He walked forward and he looked at a desk in the corner. His mind flashed back to him studying. Then he watched as he looked around and flew out the window. From there, the scene in the desert began to play in his head. He even knew who the soldiers that had knocked him out were. "He took me…."

Trunks had now walked in behind him. "Kabu…"

"I didn't want to study…so I left to play….they attacked me…knocked me out…left a body…." He turned back to look at Trunks. "and kidnapped me." He felt like he was going to cry. He knew who he was. He remembered everything that had happened. He walked forward grabbing Trunks's hands. "I'm Son Goten."

Trunks looked on the verge of tears. "Goten…I missed you."

He launched himself forward, hugging the best friend that he had been taken away from him.

"We knew that you could do it!" Both of them were shaken from their reunion as they looked down. The kid Trunks and the kid Goten both started to laugh. "So we can finally go back?"

"Yeah." He watched as the small versions of themselves walked forward and entered their bodies, disappearing from sight.

He looked back at Trunks; he looked just as flabbergasted as he did. "I wonder why both of us saw them."

"Maybe it has to do with the fusion?" He said, walking over to the closet.

"What are you doing?" Trunks asked as he pulled something out of the closet.

He chuckled. "I still have to beat you in Risk, remember?"

Trunks smirked. "You really think you can beat me, Goten?"

He smirked back. "Don't be so sure of yourself, Trunks."

* * *

Goku paced, he didn't want Trunks to run off like that. They had hoped that he would have at least opened up, but for some reason, he wouldn't tell them anything.

He turned to find Vegeta walking back over to him. They had moved from their location at Kame House to the Lookout. He didn't like it. Krillin and the others had not come back from their training. He could still sense them, but that didn't mean that he liked it.

Vegeta sighed. "Where did I go wrong, Kakarot?"

He looked at the saiyan prince. "We just have to figure out what Kabu has been saying to Trunks."

"It's my fault. I pushed him for answers." Vegeta started.

"No, we all wanted answers."

"Dad!" He turned to find Gohan. "You're not going to believe this!"

"What's going on?" He said, looking at the shocked look on his son's face.

"Mr. Popo and Dende found where Trunks and Kabu are. We can see them from the Lookout, but we can't hear what they are saying." Gohan said.

He looked at his son again. "We'll be there in a second." He made to turn back to Vegeta, but Gohan had other plans.

"Dad, they're in Goten's room." He froze. Why would they be in Goten's room of all places? What the hell was Trunks thinking?

He pushed past Gohan as his rage started to build. He pushed a couple of large doors open and walked past everyone and looked down. Clear as day, he could see Trunks and Kabu had a game board out and they were playing some kind of strategy game.

He growled as it looked like Trunks lost the game to Kabu. Kabu only laughed, while Trunks grumbled something out. He felt Gohan and Vegeta's presence again as they also looked down.

He was going to say something as Chichi walked by them and looked down. He didn't want her to see this. She had spent so much time keeping that room perfect. But instead of anger or sadness, his wife looked intrigued. "Does anyone else think that that looks familiar?" He had no idea what his wife was talking about. She had to be crazy.

Next it was Bulma. "Yeah…I don't know where though." Everyone looked down, but no one could figure it out.

He growled. "I just want to know why that flunky of Frieza's is in my son's room."

"I may have a theory." He looked over at Gohan and the boy looked serious. "If I'm right then it would explain everything with Trunks."

Everyone had turned their attention to Gohan as the man looked back down. "Explain, then." Vegeta said, crossing his arms.

"I think Kabu may be the person that killed Goten."

Goku growled. "Then why is Trunks hanging out with him."

Gohan smirked. "He's gathering information. Think about it, Trunks isn't stupid. He must know that if he gets close enough to Kabu, he can discover the truth about what happened to Goten."

Bulma smiled at Gohan. "Then the reason that Trunks was keeping us in the dark was…"

"He didn't want to give us false hope." Gohan then looked to Vegeta. "I can guarantee that Trunks would do anything to find out what happened to my brother, even if he had to play Kabu and Frieza's game to get the answer."

Vegeta finally smirked. "Then we wait for the boy to come back with his answer."

He let out a snarl. If Kabu was the one that took his son's life, he would gladly take his. Nothing would stop him from getting his revenge, nothing.

To Be Continued…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note  
> Yes, I'll admit it. I am a Goten/Bra shipper...always have been, always will be. For those that don't know, Risk is a strategy board game where you make an army and try and conquer the board.
> 
> So it looks like Goten finally remembers who he is, but this is nowhere near the end of our tale.


	9. Chapter 9

It was getting dark on the Lookout and everyone was gathered around and watching what Kabu and Trunks were doing. They had played a few more games of risk, all of which Trunks lost. It looked like Kabu was just some normal guy.

"Where are they going?" Bulma asked as she watched her son get up off of the floor and motion for Kabu to follow.

Kabu just nodded and got up from the floor and walked out of the room. The two of them raided the pantry for a second, taking some ramen noodle packets out and putting them on the stove.

Kabu looked intrigued by what Trunks was doing, but it was kind of funny watching the strange man eat. He seemed to think that the ramen tasted good, as he was stuffing his face.

Bulma heard a giggle to her right and noticed that her daughter was looking down at Kabu, she had that dreamy look on her face and it made her think back to the days when Vegeta was a monster. She began to wonder if Kabu was just misunderstood. Maybe he was like Vegeta and he had been deceived by Frieza. It was as Gohan said, Trunks wasn't stupid. But she couldn't see Trunks being friendly with someone that could have possibly killed Goten. Kabu may have information on the subject, but looking at the man, she couldn't help but feel that she had seen him before.

She shook her head. She must have been awake too long. She really needed to rest her head.

Vegeta gave her a look and seemed to nod her off to bed. He must have known that she was tired. "I'll see everyone in the morning."

She took one last look at Goku. Her oldest friend hadn't taken his eyes off of Kabu. She had never seen him be so vengeful before. It didn't suit him. The way he was glaring at Kabu would have made anyone's skin crawl.

She had to look away and think of something else. Goku would be fine. Once they knew more, everything would be fine.

* * *

Trunks laughed to himself as they finally walked outside. The stars were bright as he looked up. He had no place to go for the night. If he knew his family, they had to have packed up and gone to the Lookout.

He stopped for a second as a sneaky grin plastered itself all over his face. "Hey, Goten."

"What?" Goten walked out of the house and looked up as well. "Damn."

"Don't tell me that you haven't seen stars in a while?" He teased.

Goten only laughed. "Well, if you live in space, it's not the same."

He wanted to ask more questions, but he had a really funny idea and he wasn't going to pass on it. "Follow me for a second; I have a prank for the ages."

Goten only smirked but he followed him. "What do you have in mind?"

Very quickly he pushed Goten to the ground, then slipped himself to the ground next to him, he leaned in and whispered into Goten's ear. "Our parents are watching. I say we prank the shit out of them."

Goten only laughed as he felt Trunks snuggle into him as they continued to look up at the stars. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"What is space like?" He had asked his parents this a couple of times, but neither of them ever answered him.

"It's hard to describe. It matters what part of space you're in as well. Some places are rough, other's dangerous, and even sometimes you'll find nothing at all." Goten said, leaning into him some more. He didn't complain. It was a little chilly.

"What about working for Frieza?" That was another thing that he had trouble getting answers about. His father liked to steer clear of that subject.

Goten seemed to go quiet for a couple of seconds, but then said. "It's horrible really. You don't get much choice in what you do. Killing is normal, it doesn't matter if its men, women, or children. If he wants a planet cleared, you do it. After a while, you start to forget your emotions. The faces of the fallen just start to blend together. Genocide becomes normal and you do it because if you don't you'll be killed or worse."

"Or worse? What does that mean?" He started.

Goten seemed to fidget. "Forget I said anything about that. I really don't want to talk about it."

Trunks sighed; at least he got more out of Goten than he planned to. "So what do we do now?"

Goten just looked up at the sky. "The best thing to do would be to get rid of Frieza's army."

"What?" He almost sat up at Goten's words.

Goten's eyes never left the night sky though. His face had become serious. "Frieza died in the past. Someone had to use the dragonballs to bring him back. Even if I were to kill him now, he would just be resurrected again or his army would continue to run rampant. There's so much blood on their hands, on my hands."

"Goten, you're not the same as them." He said, looking at him. His friend remained quiet as he looked up at the sky. Trunks rolled on to him, blocking his view of the sky. "Listen to me, you didn't want this! You're not a cold blooded killer!"

"But I have killed in cold blood. I planned to kill my own father." Goten said.

He looked down at him in anger. "You were lied to! Frieza deceived you!"

"But I still followed him." Goten looked off to the side. "And sometimes I enjoyed it."

He reached down and forced Goten to look at him. "Just stop that! You were a child! He took advantage of you!"

Goten only looked into his eyes. "But I should have noticed something."

"You don't know that! Frieza manipulates people. He likes playing with people's lives. He had to have some way of messing with you. That's why you can't remember." He said.

He could feel Goten relax below him and he felt himself start to lean down as he started to lay on his friend. They had grown silent as he twisted around and laid on the ground next to him. Goten turned to face him, no longer looking at the sky. He felt Goten take his hands as he stared at him. "Help me destroy him."

He felt a smile creep onto his face. "Why don't we go now?" He made to get up, but Goten held him down.

"Go into space with me, Trunks." He felt himself start to blush. He had always wanted to go into space, but with all of the fear after his friend's disappearance made that impossible. Goten got his attention again by leaning in closer. "Help me take down his army from the inside."

He started to smirk. "Between the two of us, he doesn't have a chance."

Goten finally gave him a smile. "Thank you, Trunks."

He almost laughed. "What are friends for." He did have one question though. "How are we going to trick Frieza? He can't be an idiot after that plan of his."

Goten sighed. "You're going to have to enter into his army with me. We must convince him that you are loyal to him. Are you prepared to kill someone?"

Now that was a good question, he really wasn't sure that he could do that, but he nodded anyway. "I'll do what I have to, to take him down."

"Prepare yourself then. He will not make it easy. You may have to kill a child. Can you live with that?" Goten said seriously again.

As much as he didn't like the idea of murder, they had no choice. Having Frieza's army run across the galaxy was a threat not only to them, but the rest of the galaxy as well. "One life cannot be more important than helping the rest of the galaxy."

Goten didn't smirk at him though. "It won't be just one life. Frieza may give you that one life to destroy, but then we have thousands to destroy after that."

"Can't we contact the Galactic Patrol for assistance?" He asked.

Goten gave him a look that screamed, are you kidding me? "Those pansies? You've seen Jaco, Trunks."

"They can't all be that useless." He wondered aloud.

His best friend only chuckled. "All they are is government licensed attack dogs, but nothing about them even matches that. I'm surprised that Jaco is still alive."

Trunks laughed. "Well he's always coming by to visit Aunt Tights."

"I've killed plenty of Patrolmen. They fell like flies at my feet." He could see that Goten's eyes had become dark and almost hollow as he spoke. "I enjoyed killing them. It was like they were ants and I…I was a god."

He felt a chill go down his spine as Goten talked. He had never heard his friend speak this way. "Goten, those were innocent people."

Goten let out a chuckle. "No, they were soldiers. They knew what they were getting themselves into. Besides, it is in our blood. We are part saiyan. The thrill of the kill is in all of us."

He made to shake his head. "No, we like to fight, that doesn't mean that we like to kill. Look at your father."

Goten smirked at him. "Look at your father. Mine is a man that forgot where he came from. Son Goku is more human than saiyan."

"You didn't see him after you died." Trunks said.

Goten only raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Trunks looked away from Goten. "Your father wants vengeance for your death. If he knew the truth, I doubt that Frieza would be given any mercy."

Goten only smirked. "So he has some saiyan in him after all."

"What is with all of this saiyan pride? You sound worse than my dad." Trunks said.

"That pride kept me alive. Frieza didn't just keep me alive to attack this place. I had to fight and kill for the last 10 years. Without that pride, I would have died a long time ago." Goten sounded so sure of that. "If we go into space, you'll understand it better."

"I thought we were going anyway. We have an army to destroy." He argued.

Goten chuckled. "So you really think that you can handle killing all of those people?"

"They're evil, Goten. I just have to remind myself of that." He said.

Goten let out a half laugh. "You'll see." He watched as his friend yawned. "So are we going to move somewhere or are we going to sleep out here?"

This time he laughed. "I was thinking that under the stars would be a good way to irritate them."

Goten smirked. "You know that they are going to kill us when they find out."

He smirked back. "I think they'll be too happy that you're alive."

"We'll see about that." Trunks was going to argue, when Goten put his arm around his back and pulled him against his chest. "You know that you're probably giving your father a heart attack?"

Trunks laughed. "Yeah, but I think I have an idea. Move around so that your head is on my stomach." Goten gave him a questioning look. "Don't you remember? Everyone has a picture of us passed out in the gravity room like that. I want to see their faces when we tell them that we left them a clue."

Goten laughed and moved just as he said. He looked over at his friend before looking back up and falling asleep.

* * *

Goku growled as he watched the scene below him. Why was Trunks letting Kabu be so handsy with him? He looked over and saw that only Vegeta and Gohan remained with him.

"I don't like this. Even if he is getting information, that Kabu guy is too close." Vegeta said under his breath.

Gohan sighed. "That may be what it takes to get an answer." His son looked off to the side. "I wish Piccolo was here. Then maybe we could know what they were saying."

Goku had to agree. The Namek's hearing was a lot better than anyone else's. But Piccolo had to be out training somewhere. Wherever he was, he knew he was alive. The Namek wasn't stupid. He knew just like the rest of them how Frieza's army operated.

Goku started to search with his Ki. He could feel some fighting going on south of here. Uub must have run into some of Frieza's soldiers and from the look of it, his apprentice was making short work of them. He didn't expect less from the reincarnation of the evil side of Majin Buu.

He wondered if there was a way to call both of them here. He knew that getting Piccolo would be easier, mainly because Uub was not likely to leave his village while they were in danger.

He could have used his instant transmission, but he didn't want to leave everyone here. If Trunks had really turned on them, he would know that this was the next place they would go. He couldn't leave what was left of his family unprotected.

He thought of Goten once again, the thought made him smile. _"Dad, can you train me today?" "Sorry, Goten. Your mom wants you to study." "But I don't like it. I don't want to be a scholar like Gohan. I want to fight."_  He cursed the memory. If only he had been able to teach him. Then maybe he wouldn't have this regret.

"Kakarot." He looked across from him to find that Gohan had left, leaving just him and Vegeta. He could see it in Vegeta's eyes. Fear. The same fear that had him training Pan after Goten's death.

"We won't lose Trunks." He stated, even though he didn't believe that himself.

"We already lost him." Vegeta sounded defeated. "We lost him the same day that…"

"That Goten died." He finished the sentence for his oldest rival.

"The more I see of this Kabu, the more I think he knows who did it." Vegeta said.

He looked at Vegeta in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Kakarot, Frieza hates you. I wouldn't have put it past him to have killed Goten. Kabu would have been 10 if he had killed Goten." Vegeta stated.

He looked up. "You know that that means nothing for our kind."

Vegeta looked at him. He could see no expression staring back at him. "Yes, I do know that. I know that better than anyone else."

"Hell, you killed Nappa because he was of no use to you." Goku started.

Vegeta backed up a little. He looked offended for some reason. "You know nothing." And with that, Vegeta stormed off, leaving him alone.

He wondered why Vegeta ran off. It was the truth, wasn't it?

To Be Continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note  
> Now we're getting to see more of Goten's darker side. Also I wonder why Vegeta ran off...well I don't really, I already know what happens.


	10. Chapter 10

Videl woke up early. She wanted to get some coffee ready for everyone. They had all stayed up later than she had. She turned a corner and walked by the screen that allowed them to see what was going on below them. She looked down and what she saw there caught her attention.

Trunks was laying sideways on the ground with Kabu using his stomach as a pillow. She almost giggled at the sight before she really thought about it. Trunks looked so comfortable and Kabu was their enemy, but he was just lying there looking as sweet an angel. There was something odd about it. Like she had seen it somewhere before, she just didn't know where.

"I didn't think you would be up." She looked over and found that Goku was still up. She thought he had to have gone to bed like everyone else, but now that she saw him, she knew that he hadn't left this spot.

"I was going to start breakfast for everyone." She said, noting his glare. "Anything interesting?"

He sighed. "If you want to count watching them sleep as interesting."

"Goku, why don't you get some sleep? I can have someone wake you if something happens." She offered.

He shook his head. "Not till I find out about Goten."

She looked down at the ground. "I know that it hurts, but I don't think that Goten would want you to drain yourself. What if you have to fight against Frieza? You can't do that on low power."

Goku looked at her for a second, then down at the screen. "If you promise to get me as soon as something big happens…"

"Gohan should be up soon. I'll wait here for him, then I can start breakfast. If anything happens, he'll go find you." She stated.

She watched as her father-in-law yawned, but then nodded. She waited for him to walk out of the room, before sighing. She knew it had to be hard, but it wasn't healthy.

She thought of the innocent, kind hearted boy that she had once known and felt herself start to tear up. "We all miss him, Goku. I just wish you and Chichi could move forward like the rest of us."

* * *

Goten felt a slight chill and moved closer to the warmth that he could feel by his head. He could feel that it was bright and he didn't want to open his eyes just yet. He was just too comfortable.

"Goten, can you get off of me? You're heavy." He heard Trunks whine out.

He chuckled and made to ignore him. He didn't want to get up yet. So he snuggled himself closer to Trunks's stomach, much to the annoyance of his companion.

Suddenly, he was tipped over and found himself with his head on the grass. He opened his eyes to find that Trunks was standing over him. The sun was just beating down behind him. "Are you going to sleep all day?"

He yawned. "I was comfortable. You've never had to sleep on one of Frieza's ships before. It's horrible."

Trunks laughed. "And you're going to make me go back there with you?"

"It's the only way to stop him. He came back with the Dragonballs. We can't destroy the balls, but we can make it so no one ever gets the idea to use them on him again." He said.

"How are we going to get off planet though? Surely, Frieza didn't bring his entire army here." Trunks stated.

He nodded. "You would be right. They are divided all around the galaxy." He thought back to the main base. "Frieza wasn't the only one brought back; they brought back some weirdo by the name of Zarbon."

"Zarbon? I think my dad killed him." Trunks began.

He chuckled. "He did. He talked about how much he wanted to kill Vegeta, but he wasn't allowed to come here. Only the small force and I were sent with Frieza." He stated.

Trunks got this dark look on his face. "He wanted you to kill everyone on this planet."

He shook his head. "No, my only target was my father. But going off of my own power in comparison, I think I know what Frieza was really after." Trunks have him a look that told him to continue. "I was bait. Son Goku would have killed me, then he would have told my father the truth."

Trunks looked mortified. "That would have destroyed him. He's never gotten over your death. No one in your family has."

He laughed. "And you did?"

Trunks shook his head. "No. I just had trouble believing that you were dead. I know there was a body, but it just didn't feel real."

"So that clone of me is buried in my grave then?" It felt so eerie to be talking about an actual gravestone with his name on it. He felt his heart clench at the idea of his parents, brother, and Trunks grieving him. They fact that they couldn't move on was even more tragic. "Let's get rid of Frieza. Then I can see them again."

Trunks looked down at him with a frown. "You could see them now."

He shook his head. "I've done too much damage."

"Goten, they're not going to care about that. You were taken, used, and manipulated." Trunks said putting his hand on his shoulder.

"They may not care, but I do." He looked down. "I've killed so many innocent people, Trunks."

"So has my dad and they accepted him." Goten looked back up. "And if I'm going with you into space, then I'll have to do the same."

"Are you sure that you're ready for that?" He wondered if Trunks really knew what he was getting into. "We should head out. Frieza will be suspicious that I didn't return last night."

Trunks nodded. "Is there anything I should know about before we go?"

He had to stop and think. He didn't even think about Frieza's reaction to even seeing Trunks. What would the tyrant think about the son of Vegeta joining them? "Just remember to stay respectful and to do whatever he asks of you."

Trunks gave him another nod. "Then we should get going."

He looked up at the sky before taking off. Trunks stayed by his side as they flew. He didn't know what to expect out of Frieza, but he hoped that this worked. He dreaded what could happen if they failed.

They flew in silence. Both of them knew what was at stake. For Trunks, it was getting him back, for Goten, it was his freedom.

He could see the ship closing in and looked over at Trunks. He gave his friend a nod and they began to land. Some of the soldiers looked ready to fire, but upon seeing him, they thought against it. He was still Frieza's favorite.

"Kabu! Where have you been?!" He knew that voice and turned to find the man that he had thought of as a master until now. He watched as Frieza's eyes fell off of him and onto Trunks. "You!"

He looked between them in confusion. "What is it, my Lord?"

Frieza pointed at Trunks as he looked like he was turning red. "That is the bastard that killed me!"

Trunks held his hands up. He looked so confused. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"I came to this planet 23 years ago and he sliced me into a bunch of pieces!" Frieza accused.

"But I'm only 21, how is that possible?" Trunks said, looking at him.

He also didn't have an answer for it, but he could feel Frieza's eyes on him. "Tell me, Kabu, why have you brought his young man here?"

He looked back at his master. "He has turned against that monster Son Goku! He wishes to join us, my Lord."

Frieza looked like he was pondering something. "How do you know that he isn't going to betray us, Kabu? He is one of them."

"I have taken care of that, my lord." His mind was racing. He had to think of something. He knew that Frieza would want some evidence of Trunk's betrayal. He just needed more time to think of a something.

"My father is a fool." Trunks started. "To have ever left your side to work with that tyrant Son Goku, makes him the worst kind of trash."

"Father?" Frieza said. He had to give it to Trunks, he was better at thinking on his feet than he was.

Trunks looked angry. "My father's name is Vegeta." He heard the venom in Trunks's voice as he said his father's name. He didn't think that his friend could really pull this off.

"Really? I didn't think that monkey had it in him to find himself a mate." Frieza said to himself, then smirked. "But again, how do I know that you are really loyal to me? If I remember correctly, your father played the same cards with me back then and then stabbed me in the back. So tell me, boy, how has Kabu convinced you to turn on those most dear to you?" He could see the sadistic smile on Frieza's face. He didn't know what to do.

Then suddenly, it hit him. He looked at Trunks again and hoped that he would play along with him.

He strode over to Trunks and grabbed his face, looking into his eyes before leaning down and pulling him into a kiss. As soon as his lips touched his friend's, it took everything he had not to be disgusted. His mind wandered as he tried to think of something else. The color blue flashed in his mind and he got an idea. He placed that girl where his best friend was now and let out a moan.

Against him Trunks had frozen up for a second, before kissing him back. The moment he felt Trunks relax, he went in for more, making his friend gasp as he forced his mouth open. He could feel Trunk's hands behind his neck as they tried to pull him in closer. A moan rumbled through his throat as he moved his hands down Trunks's back so he could squeeze his ass.

He pulled himself from the kiss and just stood there looking at Trunks. He could see that his friend was dazed. "Kabu…."

Next to him, he could hear a small chuckle. "Oh, I see. So that's what happened."

He turned his head to look at his master. "As you can see, he is mine now. He won't be returning to that bastard anytime soon."

Frieza was smirking. "Well done, Kabu." His master was looking up and down the two of them.

He smirked back at Frieza. "Now if you don't mind, we have some…fun to have." He said, dragging Trunks behind him. Trunks just continued to look dazed as he was dragged on board.

There wasn't any time to relax though. Now that he had done that, he knew that they were going to be watched. They would have been watched regardless, but he had to go and kiss Trunks. Not only that, but he would have to explain himself to Trunks. He hoped that his friend wasn't mad at him. It had been their only option. Part of him wondered why it had even popped into his mind. How did he know that Frieza would fall for such a thing? The tyrant lord didn't seem to be that interested in sex, so why did he feel so disturbed at the way he was looking at him and Trunks? Why did Frieza look so interested in the two of them? It just didn't make any sense.

He opened up his room and pulled Trunks in before closing and locking his door. "So what was that about?" Trunks said, finally wiping that dazed look off of his face. He knew that his cohort had been acting the entire time.

"You should be thanking me. It got us in." He said sitting down on the bed.

Trunks sat on the opposite side of the bed. "Still, I don't think you needed to push your tongue down my throat."

He blushed. "Sorry about that. I just needed it to look as realistic as possible."

"A little warning next time would be nice." Trunks stated.

He looked at his friend and sighed. "I didn't think of that till he was questioning us. I don't even know where I got the idea."

Trunks just laughed. "I just want to know who taught you how to kiss like that."

He rolled his eyes. "No one."

Trunks looked confused. "You mean that was your first?"

He nodded. "At least that's all I remember, have you kissed anyone before?"

Trunk sighed. "No."

The room had suddenly become awkward. They didn't know what to say. He just couldn't believe that they had given their first kiss to one another. "It doesn't mean anything though." He stated.

And Trunks nodded. "Yeah, I was kind of hoping that it would have been Marron though."

Now he laughed. "So you like blondes then? Should I have gone Super Saiyan?"

Trunks blushed. "That's not funny, Goten."

He fell back and continued to laugh. "I believe that it is Kabu here."

Trunks sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

"I think you already know the answer to that." He said becoming serious again. Trunks nodded at that. They had a mission after all. Now he just had to convince Frieza to let him into space. After that, he could finally start to fix all of the damage he had caused.

* * *

Vegeta walked away from the screen and gagged. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. His son and Kabu were…no just no. The idea of Trunks doing those things in front of Frieza made him sick to his stomach. Sure, he didn't like the idea of Kabu being with Trunks, but to put on a show like that in front of that diabolical lizard was enough to make him ill.

"Vegeta, are you okay?" He heard his wife say as she followed him. He shook his head. "You know that you'll love him no matter what." She said, thinking that was what the problem was.

"That isn't the issue." He said looking back at her.

She tensed up and gave him a sad smile. "Oh…"

He shook his head again as he made to walk away. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts.

"This just isn't fair!" He turned quickly to find Pan storming out of that room with Bra.

"My brother is a dead man when he comes back!" Bra looked livid. For some reason, she had really latched onto the idea of being with Kabu.

For the most part, he didn't think too badly of Kabu. He had been there before. He knew how Frieza operated. The young saiyan was just another puppet for the tyrant to control. He just hoped that Gohan was right and Trunks had other motives for going into Frieza's lair. If not, he didn't know what he would do.

To Be Continued…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note  
> Yes, the No Yaoi title still stands. They only kissed because it allowed them to get Trunks into Frieza's base. Trust me, both Trunks and Goten are clearly straight in this story. Cough couch Marron. Cough cough Bra.


	11. Chapter 11

Trunks had run to the bathroom. He felt the need to wash his mouth out. Goten really didn't have to go that far. He could have easily just killed some scrub and they could have gotten in.

One thing did bother him though. The look that Frieza had given them had sent chills down his spine. Goten seemed to think that that was the best course of action.

He walked up to the sink and turned it on. He let the water warm up a little before bringing it up to wash his mouth out. He spit it out into the sink, wishing he had mouthwash.

He remembered what it felt like when Goten had done it. His mind had been screaming at him. He was disgusted by it. But he let Goten do it. His friend knew how to get him in here.

But the fact that he didn't know that that would work bothered him a little. Did Goten think he was attractive? They would have to talk this out. The fact that Goten had moaned also disturbed him. Did he really enjoy it?

He walked back out of the room, to find that Goten had lain down on his bed and was looking at the ceiling. He didn't say anything though. It looked like Goten was lost in thought about something.

Trunks cleared his throat, making Goten jump. He was now covered in sweat. What had been going through his mind? "Are you okay?"

Goten looked over at him. "I'm just a little confused. That's all."

He raised an eyebrow. "Confused?" He really hoped that he wasn't about to hear what he thought he was going to hear.

Goten sat up. "I just keep thinking about how I knew that would work. Every time my mind gets close to the answer, it's like a black curtain goes up and I can't see anything."

He almost breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn't thinking about that. "Anything else?"

"I hear sounds, but they're all muffled. So that really isn't much help." Goten stated, then gave him a funny look. "What did you think I was going to say?"

Now it was his turn to jump. "Well…I…I thought that…"

Goten laughed. "You really thought that I was into that kiss, didn't you?"

Trunks froze. "I didn't say that!"

Goten continued to laugh. "Sorry, but you have the wrong equipment for that."

Trunks turned red. "So you're not gay?"

Goten gave him another puzzled look. "No, why would you think that?"

"Well, for one, you seemed to enjoy it!" He practically growled at his friend.

Goten frowned. "No, I didn't."

"Then why did you moan?" He snapped.

Goten rolled his eyes. "Because I had to make it look believable for Frieza. Trust me; I had another person on my mind while I was…doing that."

Trunks froze up again, then laughed. "So you have a crush on someone?"

"Says the guy who likes blondes like Marron. From what I've seen, I'm not impressed." Goten said.

He turned red. "Well, that's your opinion!"

Goten laughed. "What? She seemed like a little weakling."

He stopped what was going to be a rant and stared at Goten. "Marron isn't weak."

Goten shrugged. "She didn't even try to attack me. She ran away. There is nothing attractive about that."

Trunks thought back to that day. If he was to follow Goten's line of thinking, he had to like one of the three girls and Marron was already out. That left his sister and Goten's niece. "Tell me, then. Which one did you think was attractive?" He was getting ready to be pissed or sick to his stomach.

Goten turned red. "I believe that that is my business."

"Oh, no, you don't, you're going to answer me now. You know the girl that I like." He rounded on Goten.

"You gave that up without me asking, so why do I have to tell you?" Goten said, pulling himself off of the bed.

"Just say if you like the color black or the color blue." He watched his friend, and was shocked as he turned red at the color blue. "My sister…you were thinking about my sister…"

Goten backed up. He must have felt his anger beginning to rise. "What about it? She's quite the little vixen."

"Goten, she's 12!" He growled.

Goten looked confused. "Really? She doesn't look 12. Has she been in the time chamber or something?"

He shook his head. "No, she hasn't. So hands off."

Goten just shrugged. "Okay then, I can wait."

Trunks almost fell over. "What did I just say?"

Goten growled and this time he was the one that backed up. "I said that I would wait until she was older."

Trunks felt a chill go up his spine. How could Goten be this serious? "You just met her a couple of days ago."

"She smells good." Now that was an answer he wasn't expecting.

"What do you mean?" He really didn't understand it.

Goten sighed. "I'm more in tune with my saiyan side. I like fighting and killing. I enjoy taking over planets. I'll eat raw meat if I have to. It's not that hard to see why I would like someone as fiery as your sister. She's a saiyan female and my senses are better than yours. I would even bet that they are better than Gohan's."

He gave his friend a puzzled look. "Is that how you beat us on that first day?"

Goten nodded. "I was able to track your movements quite easily. Both you and Gohan were giving off the same smell." He was going to interject, but Goten held up a hand to stop him. "Not exactly the same smell, but there were certain things that were the same. Fear, pain, sadness, for a saiyan all emotions give off a smell. You were giving off anger and sadness, Gohan was giving off fear and pain. Your father was more rage than anything, but it wasn't directed at me, so he wasn't focused on the fight. He probably wanted to go after Frieza." Goten looked back up at the ceiling. "And my father…hatred then confusion and fear."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You can seriously do that?"

Goten nodded. "Your father can too. It's just that he's become softer since he came to Earth. I've heard plenty of stories about him out there."

Trunks was at a loss. If he could learn how to do that, he could become unbeatable. "How did you learn it?"

Goten shrugged. "It's all instinct. You've lost it over time. The four of you fight like my father, so you don't use that saiyan instinct. Your father still has bits and pieces of it. I noticed it when he was fighting with me. He just wasn't focused on me. If he was, he would have wiped the floor with me."

He smirked. "And my sister does?"

Goten blushed again. "I think she understands it. She'll probably surpass you someday."

"Now I know that you're lying." He laughed, but Goten remained serious. "You know that I'm not going to stand for you going after my sister, right?"

Goten gave him a smirk. "If it was easy, it wouldn't be fun."

He glared at his best friend. "Just remember that you have to go through my dad as well."

Goten still smirked. "I think he would appreciate the way I am now. I mean she could do worse."

"I can't believe that you're talking that way about my little sister." He snarled.

Goten looked back at the ceiling. "Neither can I."

* * *

Vegeta stalked back and forth. He wasn't sleeping. Between Trunks running off and Frieza, he couldn't let his guard down. He just wished that his mind would stop flashing back to those days.

He closed his eyes as he finally leaned against a wall, not realizing that he was drifting off to sleep.

He was a small child again, but he wasn't alone. Raditz was running next to him. The two of them were laughing as they ran around a corner to hide. A couple of shouts came down the hall and he signaled for his friend to be silent. Zarbon and Dodoria sounded pissed.

"When I find those little monkeys, I swear that they are dead!" Zarbon said twisting around. His once beautiful hair had been shaved off.

It was taking all of his control not to laugh and he could see Raditz was covering his mouth so that no sound came out. Just looking at him made him want to laugh. His friend still had green hair all down his front.

He wanted to brush it off, but that would make too much noise.

He looked around them and saw that the two lugs were getting too close. They would find them soon.

He turned back to Raditz, to find his friend digging through a box next to them, and then coming up with a small piece of metal. He gave his friend a nod and watched as Raditz tossed it back down the hall, from where they came.

"Those little bastards must be down there!" Dodoria shouted and the two of them ran off.

He breathed out a sigh of relief. "Good thinking."

"We aren't out of the woods yet. We should go back through the vents." Raditz said, wiping the hair off.

He smirked. "I don't know. Remember the look on Nappa's face when we came in that way last week?"

Raditz only laughed. "It wasn't as funny as Frieza's. I don't know what he would do if he found out that we are still using them."

He let out a chuckle as the grate popped off and he pushed himself in. Raditz followed behind him as they made their way through the vents.

"Vegeta?" He jumped as he heard his wife's voice. His eyes opened and he looked over at Bulma. She looked worried. "What's wrong?"

He sighed. "Nothing." He made to turn away from her.

"Vegeta…you know that you can tell me anything." She said. "I know this stuff with Trunks has to be bringing up a lot of bad memories."

He didn't look back at her. "I thought that we weren't going to talk about that again."

Even though he wasn't looking at her, he knew that she was staring straight at his back. She was never one to back down. "Our son is in danger. You're the only one that knows what that tyrant is capable of. You're the only one that can bring him back."

He finally turned around to look at her. "No…I'm not."

She looked at him in shock. "What do you mean?"

He looked away from her again, before he stormed off. He just needed time to think. This would all be clear later.

* * *

Goten sighed as he leaned back. He knew that Frieza would be around shortly. He would want to see Trunks and then they could progress with their plan.

Trunks was still pouting about what he had said about Bra. It wasn't his fault that she had struck a chord with him. If she didn't carry that scent it would be different, at least that's what he told himself.

As if right on cue, the door opened and Frieza came in. He had a smirk on his face as he looked over the two of them. "I'm surprised you're still in here. Wouldn't you like to go and get rid of Son Goku?"

He smirked. He had to play this up. "I would, but there is a problem, my Lord."

Frieza's smirk fell. "And what would that be?"

"Trunks need to be properly trained." He stated. "He is not strong enough to take out Vegeta. We must go and train."

Frieza looked over Trunks again, this time though, Trunks was not backing down. He mentally cursed. Trunks knew this was dangerous. He knew that they were playing with fire. This wasn't one of their pranks. "My father is not just a Super Saiyan. Both he and Son Goku are beyond that."

Frieza looked a little taken aback by his words. "So the monkeys have gone and gotten stronger have they?"

"Let us go and train. We only need 3 months; after that we will return." He stated.

Frieza smirked. "So you plan to come back and destroy them then?"

He nodded. "You can retain control of the planet, until then. Get it ready for sale. It should go for a good price on the galactic market."

Frieza chuckled. "I knew there was a reason I liked you, Kabu." The dark lord looked between the two of them. "I will allow you one pod. Both of you will have to share, but you can come back with more than that."

"My lord?" He asked, slightly puzzled.

Frieza chuckled darkly. "Bring back the rest of my forces, we will bring this planet to its knees."

He smirked. "They will all die, my master."

Frieza looked happy with himself. "I suggest the two of you get some sleep. You will leave in the morning."

He nodded, then turned back to Trunks. "You heard him."

Frieza turned his back with a wink. "Now don't go and have too much fun." With that the tyrant left.

Trunks walked up to him. "What was that about?"

He groaned. "I think he thinks that we are going to sleep together."

Trunks turned green. "I knew that I shouldn't have let you kiss me."

He glared at Trunks. "Would you have preferred to kill a small child?"

Trunks flinched. "Still…"

"There is no still about it. We had no choice. I saved you from having to kill your first child. Just be prepared to kill when we get into space." He said hotly. He really wasn't in a good mood.

Trunks just stared at him. "You really think I don't have what it takes to kill someone."

"I don't think. I know. You were raised…" He started.

"Just shut up about that! You keep bringing that shit up and I'm really getting tired of it!" Trunks said in annoyance.

He looked away from him. "It's true though. You were raised in a happy home. I wasn't."

"Then what about your life before Frieza, huh? Your parents loved you, they still do." Trunks said.

He walked back over to the bed and fell on it. He stared at the ceiling for a couple of seconds before answering. "They did…but Gohan was better." Trunks just seemed lost for words. "He was both smart and strong…I was neither…They already had a perfect child."

SMACK! He looked back up to find Trunks glaring at him in rage. "You really think that! How can you think that?!"

"But Goh…" He started.

"Stop comparing yourself to Gohan. You're not Gohan, you're Goten. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or something! You just have to be you! Your family only wants you! They went crazy when you died!" Trunks snapped.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're…"

"Don't say that I'm lying. It's the truth." Trunks said, sitting on the side of the bed. "Besides, if you couldn't tell, I missed you. If I missed you, then can you imagine what your parents felt?"

He started to think it over. Some of the happier memories floated through his head. "They really did miss me?"

"Well, yeah, idiot." Trunks grumbled. "Why do you think that your room hadn't changed?"

Now he was the one that was lost for words. Part of him wanted to cry, but he held it back. "If that's the case, then let's try and get this mission done. Then we can return to our families."

Trunks gave him a smirk. "Now that's the Goten I know."

"And you can return to your girlfriend." He joked.

Trunks turned red. "She's not my girlfriend."

He laughed. "But you've thought about it."

"Goten, just shut up."

To Be Continued…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note  
> So the madness continues.


	12. Chapter 12

Goten hated these pods, but they were necessary. Trunks looked at them with a flabbergasted look on his face. He wanted to laugh at his friend. Trunks had never been into space, and now Goten could see how apprehensive Trunks was. Unfortunately, Frieza seemed to think both he and Trunks could fit in a pod together. Well, that wasn't going to happen, one of them would have to sit in the other's lap because of how cramped the space was; they were only designed for one, after all. "Trunks, I know Frieza said we would have to share a pod, but that simply is not going to work, and Frieza will just have to deal with it; besides there are plenty of pods here, so we will each take our own."

"Okay, but are you sure that this is safe?" Trunks asked, still looking at the pods uneasily.

He smirked. "I've been using these things for years. Hell, your father used these to travel to Earth, back in the day."

Trunks now looked intrigued. "So you're saying that Frieza has used the same pods for that long?"

"No, it's just the same basic design. Those pods would have been retired over a decade ago." Goten sighed. "Are you going to do this with me or not?"

Trunks nodded. "Of course I am. I just want us to come back in one piece."

"Then trust me." Goten said, getting into his pod. "Remember to set it for hibernation mode; it's going to be a long journey."

"How long are we going to be asleep for?" Trunks asked.

He rolled his eyes. "With the hyper drive, it will take a couple of days to get there. From there, we will only have a couple of months to finish up our plan."

Trunks nodded. "So I will see you when we get there."

He smiled. "See you then." He punched a couple of buttons, and the pod closed before they could say anything else. He watched Trunks's pod launch before he did the same.

He closed his eyes as space appeared around him. He smirked. Soon, he would have his revenge. Frieza would curse the day that he kidnapped him. He would bring Frieza to his knees or die trying. That was a promise.

* * *

Goku smiled as he looked down at his son. Goten was running around the yard with a smile on his face. Chichi had just come out of the house with a tray full of food. He couldn't be happier.

He heard a scream and turned to look. He saw Kabu standing over Goten with a Ki blast forming in his hand. Goku moved forward but he wasn't fast enough. Goten's blood spattered everywhere. As he looked down at the broken form of his son, Kabu came behind him. "You couldn't save him. You're too weak, Son Goku."

He turned to punch Kabu, but found nothing but air. As he looked around for his prey, Kabu had completely disappeared and all he could hear was Frieza. The tyrant was loud and surrounded him. He was forced to cover his ears as it boomed around him.

He looked up and found Kabu standing there. He felt angry. As he made to form the Kamehameha, Kabu was smirking at him. "So you wish to kill me? Go ahead, fire."

He growled and fired his blast at the young saiyan. He smirked as his attack hit its mark. He scrambled forward and froze. Grief struck him. Goten was laying there on the ground. He knew that Goten was already dead, but his son looked as though he had been burned from a Ki blast, his Ki blast.

Kabu was nowhere to be found, but he couldn't think of anything else. All he felt was guilt as he stared at Goten's broken body.

"You did this." He froze as he heard Frieza's voice. "It's all your fault."

He began to shake as the words stung him. Frieza was right. This was his fault he had killed his son. "Goten…"

"Goku." He heard his name, but wasn't paying attention. "Goku!" The world around him shook as he looked around. What was going on? "Goku, wake up!"

He snapped up from the bed and looked over at this wife. Chichi looked worried. He turned and put his feet on the ground, then he put his head in his hands. He couldn't get that dream out of his head. What did it mean? Why did Kabu disappear like that and why was Goten there in his place? It didn't make any sense.

"Goku, are you okay?" Chichi said, wrapping her arms around his back.

He looked back at her and tried to smile. "I'm fine. I just had a bad dream."

She looked at him sadly. "I have them to." Now he felt confused. He gave her a puzzled look when she sighed. "I dream about Goten too. I have every day since he…"

He turned and pulled her against him. She he could already feel her tears on his chest. "We're going to get to the bottom of this." She nodded into his chest and held on to him tighter. "I promise."

* * *

Krillin sighed as he looked over at Tien. Kame house was deserted. "I wonder what happened."

They looked up and saw the huge whole in the ceiling. "I don't know, but I don't like it." Tien said, looking over at Yamcha.

"They must be on the lookout." Krillin stated.

Yamcha sighed. "If that's the case, then we'll just get behind again."

"What do you mean?" Tien sounded angry. They had been training their asses off and now it meant nothing.

"You know as well as I do that they are going to use the time chamber." Yamcha said. "How do we compete with that?"

"I don't know, but I wish that my family was here with me." Krillin looked irritated.

"They must have gone with Goku and the others." Tien said, looking around the house. "It doesn't look like anyone was killed. It looks like there was a bit of a struggle, but that's about it."

Yamcha looked like he was going to say something about it, when one of the walls collapsed. "Sorry about the mess. I hoped that you three would come back here."

"18!" Krillin dove forward and greeted his wife. She didn't look very happy though.

"What happened?" Tien asked.

18 looked up at the stars. "Trunks has betrayed us."

Krillin couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What do you mean?"

"He chose to go with that Kabu guy." 18 looked furious, and she wasn't the only one. Marron was behind her, and she looked positively livid. Krillin knew that his daughter carried a torch for Trunks and he always knew that she was going to get burned someday. "Gohan can say that it's all because Kabu knows something about Goten all he wants, but what that bastard has done has put us all in danger."

"I should have known that the son of Vegeta would have gone rouge." Yamcha snapped. "Speaking of Vegeta, how is that bastard taking it?"

18 cracked a smile. "He seems to be distancing himself from everyone. He clearly has something on his mind." Her smile faded. "But it's Goku that I worry about. He's become so focused on revenge that he isn't seeing clearly at all."

"So it looks like it will be up to us to get rid of Frieza and his cronies." Tien smirked at that.

18 nodded and Marron frowned. "I just want to rip Trunks to pieces." All the others made to laugh. Marron was a fighter, but she had always been such a pacifist. "He's going to pay for making a fool of me."

Krillin couldn't help but feel proud. "I guess we'll have to work on your training then."

She nodded. "Make me strong enough to not only beat him, but so that I can knock that smirk off of Bra's cocky face." Tien made to laugh. "I promise that bitch will get what's coming to her."

* * *

Bra sighed. She didn't know what to think. All she could think about was Kabu and her brother. She found herself lost for words. She was worried about Trunks, not with him kissing Kabu, but his state of mind. It was like her brother was gone.

Kabu on the other hand, didn't seem like the type to be gay. Her mind flashed back to that night. She remembered how he moved her body into that stance. He looked so into her and at the same time, he looked disappointed when Frieza's men showed up. Why would he warn them if he was a bad guy?

There had to be more to this. Kabu and Trunks were up to something, she just couldn't figure out what it was.

"Bra." She jumped as she turned to look at her father. He looked very serious. She felt bad. Her father seemed to be breaking apart as well. Since Kabu had shown up, her father was on edge.

"Yes, Papa?" She answered.

"You should get some sleep." He said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall she was sitting against.

"I've tried. I just can't get it all off of my mind." She admitted.

Her father sighed. "Neither can I. The only thing we can do is trust that your brother knows what he is doing."

"How is mom holding up?" She asked.

"She's a strong one." Her father chuckled. "It's going to take more than that to shake her." She gave her father a smile. "If she was saiyan, she would be one hell of a warrior."

Bra laughed. "I think she already is. She has to deal with the three of us."

Her father smirked. "That she does."

She looked up at the sky. "Dad." She felt his eyes on her. "I want to be stronger." She could sense his smirk. "I have to bring Trunks home and stop this from happening."

He chuckled. "Go get some sleep."

She looked over at him. "What?"

"You'll need it. We'll be getting up at dawn; I want us to beat Kakarot's brat and Pan to the time chamber."

She froze. "You mean…!"

"I'm going to take you to the next level. Once you master the super saiyan form, you'll be unstoppable on the battlefield." She could hear the pride in his voice.

She couldn't believe it. She was finally going to learn what it took to become a super saiyan. She beamed at her father. "Now that you've told me that, how am I going to sleep?"

He smirked again. "I figured you would say that." He offered her his hand. "Why don't we go in a little early?"

She smirked back at him. "How long will we be in there?"

"The whole day will do us some good. I think one day every week that we are stuck up here will do the trick." Her father said.

"One day isn't going to do much." She was starting to feel a little cheated.

He chuckled. "I've never explained this. One day out here, is one year in there. You'll be getting a year's worth of training in one day."

"Then why don't we stay in there till we're strong enough?" She asked.

"Because your mother would kill me if she didn't get to watch you grow up. You'll be aging while we're in there and trust me, it's not going to be easy." Her father stated.

"That doesn't matter. We need to get stronger." She gave him a determined look. "I will not be humiliated by anyone."

Her father chuckled again. "That's my girl. Now come on, we better hurry. I can see Gohan and that daughter of his wanting the chamber for themselves."

She stood up quickly. She was ready for this. She would become stronger than anyone; that was a promise.

* * *

Trunks looked out at space. He was a little overwhelmed by it. Now that he could see it, he didn't know if he could just fall asleep. How the hell did Goten do this?

He looked over a couple of the buttons in front of him. Goten had to have preset his pod before he was launched upward. Everything was zooming by outside. It was completely dark and there weren't too many lights in the pod.

That and the small space wasn't that great either. He groaned. Now was not the time for him to become claustrophobic. He started looking at the buttons again and set the hibernation mode up. Maybe that's why Goten told him to do so.

A strange gas entered the pod, and he began to feel sleepy. He felt his eyelids begin to fall, and took one last look outside. He hoped that all of this worked. He would do anything to be back at home with his family again. This was just another step for him.

He wondered for a second how his mother was holding up. He knew that his father and Bra would be fine. He remembered how Goten's mother reacted to losing Goten. Was his own mother mourning him? She thought that he was with Frieza, so she had to think the worst of him. He could only imagine his father's reaction to the entire thing.

Vegeta wasn't a forgiving man and knowing what he knew about his father's past, his father would not be happy with him. But he had to think about this logically. He didn't want to give anyone a false hope. He had gone out on a limb when he started this mission with Kabu. It was only luck that Kabu was really Goten.

He smiled to himself when he thought how Goku and Chichi would react. Gohan would be over the moon as well. They would be a happy family again. Gohan would go back to his happy-go-lucky self. Chichi wouldn't be so depressing, and Goku would actually be alive again. It was as his father said. When Goten died, the rest of them did, too. They fell apart in the worst way.

Not that he had room to talk. He had been just as bad, if not worse. He made a small smile as he thought about it. It was stupid really. No one was around to hear him, but he felt that he needed to say something anyway. "I'm sorry mom, dad, everyone, but I have to do this. I will come back to you, I promise." With that he passed out as the pod continued through space.

To Be Continued….


	13. Chapter 13

Goten shook his head as he woke up. The hibernation had turned off and he could see the loading dock off of Frieza's base. He had to shake his head. He had almost thought of it as home. He had to remind himself that this was the enemy's base as the door to his pod opened. He turned to his right, to find Trunks getting out of his pod. Both of them nodded, just in time for Zarbon to walk over.

"I wasn't expecting you back so soon. I thought you were hungry for your revenge, monkey boy." Zarbon harped.

He glared at the long haired pretty boy. "I still am, but Lord Frieza wishes for the entire army to join him on Earth. I could not refuse his request."

Zarbon looked over at Trunks. "I don't believe that I've seen you before. State your business."

Trunks glared at Zarbon, but he knew to intervene. The last thing they needed was to be found out this early. "He's with me. We came back to train him for Frieza's army."

Zarbon looked at Trunks with suspicion. "What makes him good enough?"

Trunks growled. "I'm the Prince of all Saiyans, you dimwit."

Zarbon tensed up. "Vegeta's son?" Trunks smirked at Zarbon and Goten wanted to facepalm. Didn't Trunks know the gravity of the situation? "I didn't think that Vegeta would breed."

Trunks frowned and made to go after Zarbon. Goten had to grab onto his jacket to stop him. Trunks seemed to remember his bearings and glared at Zarbon. "Well he did, twice."

Zarbon grabbed onto his ponytail and started to play with it for a couple of seconds. "You know, your father killed me."

Trunks smirked at that. "Really? That not surprising."

Goten sighed. "Trunks, we have orders. I don't think messing with Zarbon is a part of them."

Trunks gave him a look then rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Zarbon just stared at them. "I thought that the orders were to move the army?"

Goten chuckled. "I already told you that I needed to train with Trunks. You can prepare the army while I do that, can't you? Or are you so incompetent, that I have to hold your hand?"

Zarbon turned red. "I will be enough. Just get going, I'm tired of looking after you baboons."

He just grinned at Zarbon. "Come on, Zarbon, I'm not that bad to look at."

"Such an uncivilized child." Zarbon huffed.

"Let's go, Trunks. We've got a long day ahead of us." He motioned for Trunks to follow him, and his friend followed. He could still feel Zarbon's eyes on his back. He smirked. Let the fool be suspicious. They would get what they wanted in the end.

Trunks didn't say anything till they reached the end of the hallway and were out of earshot from Zarbon. "What's that guys deal?"

He chuckled. "Zarbon has always been a pain in the ass. He'll probably be suspicious of you because of your father."

Trunks laughed. "Who cares? By the time we are done, he'll be dead again. Only this time, I'll be the one doing it."

He looked at his friend in confusion. Trunks never spoke about anyone with this much malice in his voice. "Why?"

Trunks gave him a look that made him look like Vegeta. "He called me a baboon."

Goten sighed. "You got to get used to that out here. You'll hear it everywhere."

"That doesn't mean that I have to like it." Trunks almost snapped.

He chuckled. "I didn't say that you had to like it. You just need to control your temper. Zarbon may be an idiot, but he is Frieza's right hand man."

Trunks didn't look surprised. "Of course that guy would be Frieza's right hand man."

Goten felt a little subconscious. "Well…I would be considered his left hand." Now Trunks did look surprised. "Why do you think he trusted me to bring you out here?"

"I'm just a little confused. What did you have to do to get that role?" Trunks said, clearly interested.

Goten felt himself freeze up a bit. "You already know that."

"Oh, no, you don't." Trunks said, standing in front of him. "Tell me everything."

Goten sighed. "I just did what I was told, that is all." The look that he gave his friend told Trunks that this conversation was over. "Come on, let's get you some armor."

Trunks seemed a lot more chipper about that. "You know, even with my dad wearing that, he never wanted me to wear it."

Goten only chuckled at that. "Well it is something that you have to get used to, but once you're used to it, I really can't imagine wearing anything else."

"What about your old gi?" Trunks asked.

He shrugged. "They're just too baggy for me."

Trunks looked over his current outfit. "I never noticed how tight that looks."

Goten chuckled. "Well, the jumpsuit is like spandex. You may not want to walk by Marron while wearing it. She'll see everything."

Trunks turned red. "I don't know about this."

"You mean to tell me that you never noticed that about your dad?" He couldn't help but laugh at the look on Trunks's face.

"If you're asking me if I look at my dad's junk, then you must really be off your rocker!" Trunks snapped.

"You know that I'm just messing with you. It really doesn't show off too much, but it can make a few heads turn from time to time." Goten said, as they reached a computer system. "What color do you want?"

It seemed like such a basic question, but Trunks seemed stumped. "They come in different colors?"

He laughed. "Well, yeah. You didn't think blue was it, did you?" Trunks almost made to nod, but stopped. "You really didn't notice that mine are black?"

"Goten, I don't spend much time looking over your body, if you get my drift." Trunks snapped.

He smirked. "Yeah, leave that to your sister."

Trunks frowned. "We already talked about this."

"And I never agreed that I would stop, did I?" He chuckled. "Now stop arguing and pick a color. We have a lot to do."

Trunks was still glaring at him before pushing a random button on the screen. A yellow set of spandex came out with a white set of armor. Trunks looked it over, but didn't look like he was that interested in it anymore.

"At least the yellow will match your hair when you go super saiyan." He joked.

"Shut up, Goten." Trunks snapped.

He chuckled again. "It's Kabu here, Trunks. Remember."

Trunks shook his head. "Whatever."

* * *

Pan sighed as she blocked one of her father's jabs. They had been training in the time chamber ever since Bra and Vegeta came out of it. She had almost barely recognized her friend. She had not been prepared to see how developed Bra had become. The only thing that hadn't changed was Bra's personality. She was still the same girl that she always was.

She felt a little envious. She hadn't started to develop yet. Bra already looked older and she felt like she was falling behind.

It was no secret that Bra could have any guy that she wanted. Hell, at school she got plenty of guys asking her out. But Bra always turned them away. She always said that they weren't her type. Pan sighed. It made her wonder what Bra's real type was, at least until Kabu showed up. Kabu seemed to check off all of the criteria that Bra wanted in a man. It just wasn't the best idea for her to be going after him. Kabu looked to be gay after all.

Part of her felt smug. This would serve Bra right. All of those years watching her friend turn down guy after guy, Bra was finally discovering what it felt like to be rejected. Marron would probably find everything hilarious when the rest of the humans returned. She guessed that they had chosen to train by themselves. She didn't really blame them. Training with Vegeta and her grandpa around could be intimidating. Even her father looked out of place next to the two of them.

She sighed again. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to fight anymore. She just couldn't see herself doing this for the rest of her life. She wanted to be more than a fighter's daughter. Her mother and grandmother had been that. She wanted her own identity.

Not only did she want her own identity. She wanted a guy that would respect that. But what kind of guy would be interested in her? She had more muscle than most girls and she could easily out do any guy that was around. It just wasn't fair. When would her perfect man show up? Maybe Marron could help her out with that. She seemed to know more about that subject than Bra would.

Her father moved away from her. "You're not concentrating."

She flinched. The last thing she wanted was her father to notice that she wasn't paying attention. "It's nothing, Dad."

He put his fists down. "Did you want to talk about it."

She shook her head, but at the same time, she could feel tears start to go down her cheeks. "Why does everything change?"

Her father gave her a sad smile. "That's just a part of life."

"But Bra isn't the same anymore." She said, sadly.

"You're growing into your own woman. It's a lot faster than I would like, but it's to be expected." She gave her father a confused look. "Neither of you have seen each other for a year of her time and now a year of your time. You were bound to grow apart."

"But why? Why couldn't we be the same? Both of us are still training. Both of us want to beat Frieza. I just don't get it." She said.

"Bra is her father's daughter in every way. She lives for battle. It's always been fun for you, but it's not your favorite thing. It's okay that you're growing apart. It doesn't mean that you still can't be friends." Her father smiled.

"But what if I want to start wearing makeup and going out with boys?" She asked.

Her father went pale. "Why don't we wait a little longer on that?"

She found herself giggling. "But daddy…"

"No, you may be aging faster, but I'm not ready for you to start dating." Her father said sternly. "Even though your grandmother would be ecstatic at the idea." He said under his breath.

She made to laugh at that. She was going to have to talk to Grandma Chichi after this. She would understand.

And maybe all she needed to do was talk to Bra before she made any decisions. Besides, they could always stay friends. She hoped.

* * *

Goku paced for the millionth time. They hadn't heard anything in a while. From the look of it, Trunks and Kabu were no longer on Earth. If Trunks was looking for the truth, he had to admire his commitment. If Trunks had betrayed them, he would show no mercy.

His mind flashed to Vegeta. The man seemed to be falling apart. If it wasn't for Bulma and Bra, he would have turned back into the empty shell that he used to be.

"Kakarot?" He turned to find the older saiyan looking at him with his arms crossed. He was covered in sweat. He must have just finished up training with Bra for the day. "What's on your mind?"

He shook his head. "I'm just trying to figure this out. I want to know the truth and I feel like it's right under my nose, but every time I reach out for it, it slips through my fingers."

"The truth will be revealed. I believe that Gohan may be correct. I had some time to stew while I was in the time chamber." Vegeta admitted after he gave him a funny look. "My son is not that kind of man. No matter how fractured he may be."

"Trunks would never betray Goten. He will find a way to bring Goten's killer to justice." He agreed.

Vegeta made to smirk. "You know, the part of the vengeful killer doesn't suit you, Kakarot."

He smirked at that. "All I want is my son's killer. Nothing else matters. As long as I get to see that bastard brought to justice, everything will be okay."

Just as Vegeta seemed ready to respond, he spotted Chichi walking with Videl and Bulma. The three women looked like they had something on their minds. He nodded to Vegeta and they made to follow. He wondered what they were going to talk about.

"Are we really doing the right thing?" Videl asked.

Bulma sighed. "I don't like it, but what are we going to do?"

Chichi looked down. "I wish that it wasn't this way. Pan and Bra could have grown up without worry. Now they're being forced to become warriors when they would have probably preferred to take dancing lessons."

Bulma let out a laugh at that. "Maybe Pan and Marron would have enjoyed that, but I doubt that Bra would be happy with it."

"After this is over, I want Pan to stop training. I wanted her to have a choice with what she wanted to do with her life and that was taken away from her." Videl said sadly.

"We were all afraid, and with good reason." Bulma pointed out. "Besides, I don't think they would be too happy if we kept them away from fighting either. At least now, they know how to defend themselves." Vegeta smirked proudly at his wife.

"Goten knew how to defend himself, but that wasn't enough." Chichi said. Her voice was barely a whisper. "It was my fault. I didn't give him a choice, and I lost him forever." Videl and Bulma looked away from Chichi as she burst into tears. "You know, sometimes when I close my eyes, I dream that he's still here."

Goku couldn't take any more of this. "It's not your fault." She jumped as he walked up to her. "You weren't the one that killed him. You loved him. Just like I did."

Chichi collapsed into his arms. Her hands were clinging to him. "I just want to know the truth. I want to know what really happened to my baby boy."

Bulma and Videl gave him a sad look. "We'll know soon. Trunks will discover the truth. Just give him time."

He still wasn't sure if he could fully trust Trunks, but at the moment, he had no choice. He wasn't going to lose the rest of his family. He had already lost enough.

To Be Continued…


	14. Chapter 14

Two weeks later.

Goten got up as the alert went over of the speakers of the ship. The ship shook and he looked around. Someone was really attacking this place. He wanted to laugh. Like that would work. He was the only one that could do that.

Trunks gave him a glare. Goten could tell that he didn't like his armor at all. "It's your own fault that you didn't get the color you wanted." He laughed.

"I don't see why you like this. It bunches in all of the wrong places." Trunks snapped.

"I guess I'm just used to it. Now come on, we have some work to do." He said, motioning for Trunks to follow him.

"What is going on?" Trunks seemed more interested now that they had something to do.

"I believe that the Galactic Patrol has shown up. They must have thought that they stood a chance with Frieza gone." He stated.

Trunks raised an eyebrow. "So we didn't need to come out here?"

He chuckled. "No, we still needed to come. The patrol are pansies. They could only dream of taking down Frieza's army. I'm surprised that they even exist. You would think that they would have given up a long time ago."

Goten opened the door as soldiers ran through the halls. Trunks seemed wary, but followed him anyway. They had to get to the front lines. He hated that Trunks had to be introduced to space like this, but there was nothing he could do.

"Remember, you'll have to kill out there." He reminded Trunks.

Trunks nodded. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

Goten smirked. "You're about to see what it's really like to be in touch with your saiyan side."

Trunks rolled his eyes. "Let's just get this over with."

They entered a room that looked like a hanger. There it was full of soldiers. Some were getting into small ships. Trunks stared at him as Goten started to give orders. "Those of you that don't know how to operate a ship, grab an oxygen tank and follow me!"

Trunks leaned in and whispered in his ear. "I thought we were supposed to be destroying them."

"We will, just follow my lead." He whispered back.

Soon a large portion of the soldiers had lined up and he attached the face mask to himself and turned to wait for Trunks to get his on. As soon as he knew that Trunks was ready, he opened the hatch, and the vacuum of space was upon them. This was a feeling that he knew very well. But he knew that it would all be new to Trunks, so he decided to make some orders quickly. "Squad A rush them from the right, while Squad B goes after the remaining artillery on the main battle cruiser. Our ships will go after all of the ships in the air. Got it?!"

"YES, SIR!" There was a line of salutes before everyone dashed off into battle.

He looked off to the side. Trunks looked to be gathering himself. "So what now?"

"Now we wait and then we strike."

* * *

_Raditz came out of the engine room. He had been in there a lot lately. "What are you doing? I got the gelatin from the kitchens." A young Vegeta said with excitement._

" _You know that's supposed to be for Dodoria's birthday next week." Raditz said with a clear smirk on his face._

" _Like that fat ass needs it. Besides, I think we can make better use of it." Vegeta said._

" _So to the vents?" Raditz said with enthusiasm._

_Vegeta nodded. "Of course."_

Vegeta tossed and turned as he tried to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that place and all of the memories that came along with it.

He was starting to wonder why this was happening. Raditz had been dead and gone for over a two decades now. There was no reason for any of this to be coming up to the surface.

But his head demanded sleep, so he gave in to the need once more only to be placed back into his horrible dreams.

_Vegeta walked over and found Raditz by himself. He was staring at the wall. Vegeta waved his hand in front of Raditz's face and watched as Raditz shook his head._

" _What did you need, Vegeta?" Raditz asked._

_He stared at his friend. "Are you okay?"_

_Raditz nodded. "I'm fine. I just have a headache, that's all."_

" _Maybe you should get that checked out. My father used to say that saiyans don't get headaches." Vegeta said, slightly worried._

" _Nah, I just came from there." Raditz answered._

" _Then why were you just staring at the wall?" Vegeta asked._

_Raditz shrugged. "I don't know. I can't remember. Maybe I should just lie down."_

_Vegeta sighed. "Okay. I was going to ask if you wanted to go train, but if you don't feel up to it…"_

" _No, it's fine. I'll go with you. I'm going to fall behind if I don't." Raditz said standing up._

" _What are you talking about? You're already behind me." Vegeta teased._

_Raditz frowned. "I know…"_

Vegeta snapped awake again. Only this time he forced himself to get up. He didn't want to wake Bulma, but from the look of it, she had never come to bed. He kind of wished that she had. Then he could at least be distracted from his dreams.

He looked back up at the ceiling of the room they were placed in. His mind was starting to drift again. He wondered if he could ask Bulma to make him something for sleeping, something that would keep him from dreaming.

" _Nappa! Raditz!_   _What the hell are you doing?!" He snapped as he walked into their quarters. Nappa had Raditz down on his knees and he was making him do some very sexual things._

" _Oh come on, Vegeta. Raditz and I are just having a little fun." Nappa smirked._

_Raditz looked mortified. It looked like he was going to start crying, but he was forcing himself to hold back his tears. "You weren't supposed to see."_

_Vegeta growled. "What did you do to him?!" He got in Nappa's face._

_Nappa only laughed. "He's a third class, My Prince. That is what he's for. Just ask Frieza."_

_Vegeta looked back at Raditz and found him getting sick on the floor. Fear, sadness, and pain filled him. He would do anything to see Nappa's corpse right now. "Frieza doesn't know anything. Your orders come from me." He was starting to gather Ki in his hand. He was going to blow Nappa to pieces._

_Nappa shook his head. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You wouldn't want to make Frieza angry. He needs all of us saiyans to do his bidding."_

_He growled at Nappa and punched him in the gut, making the giant fall to the ground. He then made his way over to Raditz and tried to help him get off of the floor. Raditz was holding his head and rocking back and forth. As he looked down at him, Vegeta almost thought that he was dead. Raditz's eyes had nothing in them._

_Raditz snapped out of it a second later and stared at the wall. "Is he gone?"_

_Vegeta put his hand on Raditz's shoulder. "I got him in the stomach. We need to report this to Frieza. Nappa will pay for…"_

" _That's not going to work, My Prince." Vegeta froze. When was the last time that Raditz had called him that? And it sounded so detached at the same time. It was almost as if it wasn't the same Raditz that he knew._

" _And why isn't it going to work?" He said angrily, almost shaking Raditz._

_Raditz turned to look at him. "Where do you think it started?"_

Vegeta snapped awake. This time he was trying to catch his breath as he pulled his legs out over the side of the bed. He growled in his throat. It wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair. Raditz didn't deserve that. No one deserved that. He had to hold back everything. If only Frieza hadn't returned. Then all of these memories would have just disappeared and stayed dead rather than being brought to the surface.

He hoped that Trunks was keeping his head clear. He didn't know if he could handle it if his son came back just like that.

* * *

Trunks swerved out of the way of a blaster fire. "I think we can go in now."

Goten smirked. "You're ready then?"

"Don't patronize me, Goten. I'm just as saiyan as you are." He said rushing forward and firing a Ki blast.

Goten stared as Trunks's blast went through more than one person making some of them explode.

Goten chuckled and he looked at Trunks. "I can see that." Goten fired his own Ki blast outward and it struck multiple targets.

The two of them began to laugh as they made their way across the battlefield. Blood floated in the vacuum around them as did the bodies of the fallen.

Around them was chaos, but it was the kind of chaos that Goten had grown up with. Trunks didn't know what this was, but it was as if some switch had been turned on inside of him. He began to move around as he killed man after man. It was almost as if the Ozzaru inside of him was waking up. Is this what Goten was talking about earlier? Was this the fire that he had lacked?

He looked across the battlefield and watched as Goten delivered a Kamehameha across it, blowing up one of the galactic patrol ships along with two of Frieza's.

He smirked as he planned the same thing, only he was going to pull from a different playbook. He began to pull all of his Ki together. He really wished that his father could see this. "GALIC GUN!" He yelled as the attack his father had mastered rang through space, going through body after body and making victim after victim.

He heard himself chuckle and almost froze. He sounded like his father. He finally understood what Goten had been talking about on Earth. These were his instincts.

Goten tossed a man upward and he jetted a Ki blast through his chest. Space was nothing but blood, guts, and scraps of metal. His heart raced. Never before would he think that Trunks had this in him. Of course if anyone asked them as small children, they never would have even considered it a possibility.

Trunks smirked as he came and floated next to him. All of the soldiers had been dealt with and the patrol had fled. "What fucking wimps! Do they always run off like that?"

Goten smirked back. "Now you understand why they would be no help to us whatsoever."

Trunks nodded. "What do we do about this mess?"

Goten looked back at the ship. "We leave it. They chose to die here, therefore, they will stay here."

Trunks sighed. "It seems so cold."

"That is what it is to be in Frieza's army. We are all pawns in his demented game of chess." Goten stated as he made his way to the door.

Trunks was about to follow him just as thousands of pieces of scrap metal headed right at him. He made to move, but it was coming down in a shower upon him. He felt himself be pushed to the side and was forced to watch as Goten took hit after hit. His friend's blood began to flow into space. He grabbed onto Goten and moved quickly towards the door. Goten had been knocked out from getting hit in the head more than once.

"Goten!" He shouted after they were safely inside the ship. "Wake up!"

Goten didn't move. Trunks removed the mask and noted that Goten was still breathing. There was a cut across his face that covered his right cheek in blood. Goten's breathing was very slow.

Trunks pulled off his own mask and picked his friend up off of the floor. He knew that this place had a med-station.

He passed Zarbon, who was coming to ask them what had happened out there. Zarbon seemed rather shocked that Goten looked like that. "Follow me!"

As much as he hated this man, he was going to have to trust him with Goten's life. They made it down another hall and into the medical wing. Trunks could already see multiple soldiers all in healing tanks. It really was like something out of a science fiction movie.

But he had no time to stare or take it in. He was just too worried. He had just gotten Goten back. He couldn't lose him again.

He watched as they started to remove Goten's armor and jumpsuit. Soon afterward they attached a different oxygen mask to Goten's face and the robots in the bay began to put him into one of the tanks. Trunks watched in horror as the tank filled with fluid. How long was he going to be alone with Goten out of commission? He was going to have to keep his eyes open. There was no way he could trust anyone here with anything.

"How long does he need to be in there?" He asked one of the robots.

"Kabu is going to need his rest, Trunks. Go and they will take it from here." Zarbon said, taking a deep breath.

"But…" He began.

"No buts. I am your commanding officer. He will be fine." Zarbon looked a little angry. "We have some of the best medical droids in the galaxy."

Trunks backed away. He had a bad feeling about this, but knew that Goten stood no chance if he continued to argue. "Call me if there is any change."

He turned and made for the door. The entire time, a nauseating feeling came to his stomach. He didn't like this. He didn't like it at all.

* * *

Zarbon chuckled as he looked over at Kabu. The young half-saiyan was floating in his tank.

He wasn't stupid. Frieza already told him about what was going on before he arrived. He pulled out a syringe and passed it to the med-droid. By this time tomorrow, the son of Vegeta would be all alone as the son of Son Goku returned to Frieza's side. Besides, there was no reason for Kabu to have ever remembered being Son Goten.

To Be Continued…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note  
> Damn this story got dark in a matter of seconds. I hope you guys enjoy it.


	15. Chapter 15

Krillin looked over at Marron. She was covered in sweat, but she was persistent. "Let's keep going." She said, breathing hard.

He made to laugh, at this point she was going to surpass him. He could tell that 18 had really taken over most of Marron's training. "We need to take a break though. You don't want to overdo it. You'll be feeling it later." He walked over to a log and sat down.

Marron sighed, but sat down next to him. "I just want to beat her." She said under her breath.

He couldn't help but laugh. "I know that you don't like Bra. I feel the same about Vegeta all of the time."

Marron looked down at her father. "Wasn't Goku your best friend at one time?"

He frowned. "That was a long time ago. Goku is still my friend. We just grew apart. After Goten died, he started spending all of his time with Vegeta. I realized I had been replaced about a couple of years after that."

"I'm sorry, Dad." Marron said sadly.

He gave her a smile. "Those things happen, Marron. Friends grow apart. That's just a part of life."

"So you're saying that Bra and Pan will grow apart, then?" She said with a smile on her face.

"I don't know. It's possible. All it takes is one little change." He was starting to feel a little nostalgic for the old days; back when it was just him and Goku training over at Kame House. Over the years, new friends came, but Goku had always made him his number one. Yamcha and Tien were still around, but it wasn't the same. He missed the happy-go-lucky man that was once Goku. After Goten had passed, Goku became a different person. He already trained a lot, but the training intensified. Bra, Trunks, Pan, and Uub were pushed to their limits. Those kids didn't really have a childhood. They were trained to be warriors. Goku let his fear consume him, and Krillin was sure that Goku wasn't even alive anymore. He was much closer to the Kakarot that Vegeta had always wanted.

"Dad?" Marron looked worried. She must have noticed that he looked depressed.

He was going to tell her he was fine, when he noticed that she was pointing out across the field. Someone was fighting. He got to his feet. He knew that Ki. "Let's go!"

They both flew forward and he could see Yamcha, 18, and Tien joining them. They had to make it there in time. If they didn't it would spell disaster for them later.

When they got there, there were about 20 or more soldiers running around. In the middle of the mess, Krillin could see Piccolo fighting off the lot.

All of the humans rushed forward, and the battle had begun. 18 was blasting at a large group of them. Tien flew forward and used his Tri beam, sending multiple soldiers to their grave. Yamcha even got a kill or two in.

Krillin flew close to Piccolo just in time. One of the soldiers was behind the Namekian and was preparing to fire. "Piccolo! Behind you!"

The Namekian turned and fired the special beam cannon; turning the man to dust. "I didn't expect you guys to show up."

"We weren't just going to leave you hanging." Yamcha said, wiping the blood onto his clothes.

Marron looked surprised as she looked at the blood on her hands. His daughter had never killed anyone before. She was human. She was going to have a human reaction. It looked like she was going to cry, but she held back. They would talk about it later.

"So where is Goku?" Piccolo asked.

Tien frowned. "Where do you think he is?"

Piccolo sighed. "He's training with Vegeta, isn't he?"

"How did you guess?" Yamcha said sarcastically.

Piccolo looked up at the sky. "Things would have been different if Goten had lived, but that's not the case."

"I still wonder why the Dragonballs didn't work." 18 said, as she tried to calm Marron down.

Piccolo frowned. "I don't know. It should have. There has never been a problem before. I even asked Dende and he couldn't figure it out either."

"I just wish we knew. Then Goku and Chichi would have some closure." Krillin stated.

"I know that we've defeated them in this area, but we can't stay here." Tien pointed out. "We need to get moving. Frieza will send them our way."

"Yeah, let's go." Piccolo said, looking upward.

"Are you saying that we should go up to the lookout?" Yamcha asked.

"Are you saying that you want to stay down here?" Piccolo snapped back.

Tien cleared his throat. "Down here we can do some damage control. That and I don't want to be anywhere near Vegeta's ego."

"Forget Vegeta's ego, I don't want be near Bra's." Marron complained.

They all laughed at that. "Yeah, the apple didn't fall far from the tree there." Krillin said looking at his daughter.

Piccolo finally sighed. "I guess it would be better for us to stay here. We can get our own training in as well."

"Piccolo?" Marron could see that something was on the Namekian's mind.

"I was just wondering how Gohan is doing. It has been a while." Piccolo answered. They all knew what Piccolo was talking about. Gohan had become so focused on training Pan. Gohan wasn't the fighting type. He didn't like fighting, but would use his power if needed. But when Goten died that changed. Just like Goku, Gohan lost himself.

Krillin felt himself worry. If he could lose Goku, and Piccolo could lose Gohan, no friendship could ever survive. To think that losing Goten would have cause all of this? Hell, Trunks was a lost cause now.

The only thing they could do was continue forward. If they were able to keep the people of the ground safe, then their efforts wouldn't be in vein.

* * *

Pan blocked one of Bra's punches and stood there in shock. How the hell had Bra gotten this strong? Sure, she was spending a lot of time with Vegeta in the time chamber, but Pan had the same amount of time. They should have been neck and neck.

Pan leaned over and took a deep breath. "Can we stop for now? I'm hungry."

Bra gave her an amused look. "You really want to stop now? We are only scratching the surface of our abilities."

"I just need a break. My dad doesn't go as hard as yours." Pan said. "We've been training for hours anyway."

Bra smiled. "Fair enough." As they walked over to the time chamber kitchen, Bra couldn't stop smirking. "I'm kind of glad that our dads agreed to let us train together this time. I can't have you getting behind me."

Pan gave her a smile. She felt a lot better now that it was just the two of them. Her fears about growing away from Bra were already starting to go away. "I don't know. After this, I think I'm going to take it slow for a while."

Bra just shrugged. "As long as you spar with me from time to time, I won't mind."

Pan then felt like she needed to get something off of her chest. "Bra, do you still like Kabu?"

Bra stared at her for a second, before turning red. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Pan giggled. "So do you want to steal him from your brother, then?"

Bra looked down. "I don't know what to feel anymore. Mom and dad are a mess with Trunks gone and if Trunks needs him to be happy, I can easily move to the side."

"But?" Pan continued.

"I just had this feeling when we met him. I've never met a man like that before. It felt like fate had just punched me in the face." Bra answered.

Pan giggled. "Only you would turn love into an analogy for fighting."

Bra gave her a smile. "What about you? Have any guys caught your eye?"

Now this was a talk she could get used to having. Maybe they really hadn't grown apart like she thought. She really had nothing to worry about.

* * *

Trunks walked into the med-wing and could see that Goten was already awake. He rushed to his side. "Goten, are you okay?"

Goten gave him a funny look. "Goten? Who's Goten?"

All of the blood froze in Trunks's body. This couldn't be right. This was impossible. Did Goten's head get hit that hard?

"Oh, Kabu, I thought that you were still a sleep." Zarbon said, coming around a corner.

"I just got up. Where is Lord Frieza?" Kabu asked.

"He's on Earth, going after Son Goku. He sent you back to bring the army there." Zarbon continued.

Upon hearing this Trunks realized what had happened. Goten had been drugged again. Trunks was back at square one, and now he had to watch as Kabu and Zarbon began to talk about the destruction of Earth. He could tell that Goten was nowhere to be found; his eyes were back to that dead, lifeless look.

Zarbon turned around and smirked at him. "Was there anything that you needed, Trunks?"

Trunks glared back. "I wanted to speak with Lord Kabu."

Kabu looked him over. "Who the hell are you anyway? What business does a lowly soldier have with me?"

His stomach felt like it had dropped out of his body. He wanted to throw up. He backed away, wondering if all of this had all been a dream. If it had, this was the worst nightmare ever.

He moved away from Kabu and Zarbon, and out of the med-wing. As soon as he was down the hall, he couldn't stop himself. He punched in the wall. Anger filled him. He was going to murder Zarbon for this! He had just gotten Goten back. Now he was going to have to start over from the beginning. He had no idea if he could even reach Goten again. He may not get a chance until they got back to Earth. There was nothing here besides himself to remind Kabu of Goten. He sighed. What was he going to do?

The part of the wall that he had punched started to cave downwards and he looked down at the metal on floor. He wanted to curse badly at it. If it wasn't for metal, he wouldn't be in this position.

He looked away from it and found a small door had been revealed behind it. He couldn't believe that such a place existed. Why would a room be barred off? He pushed in the door and found what looked like an old engine room. Around him was a bunch of dusty vent shafts that were disconnected. This must have been the old ventilation system.

Cobwebs hung from the ceiling as he moved throughout the room. He didn't know why but he felt like he needed to be here. There were boxes in the room, all of which were dusty. He couldn't help it as he opened one up. All he found was a bunch of old paperwork in it. As he looked it over, he felt rage start to pool in the back of his mind. There was a work order for the destruction of Planet Vegeta in here, and it had been approved by the Galactic King. His father would want to know about that development.

He stuffed the order into his pocket and kept digging. If that was here, there had to be other things.

He had made it through the first box and had moved onto the second. He stared at a necklace that popped out. It had a silver chain that was very masculine. The pendent on it was kind of gaudy. It was round but had small angles at the same time. It was blue with a sun in the middle. The rays were a green color, but the giant gem in the middle was a light red.

"Who would want to keep this ugly, old thing?" He said, putting it down then turning to took through another box.

An hour had gone by and he was just shocked at how much he had uncovered. False treaties and documents, official talks between the patrol and Frieza, he wondered what he would find next.

He blew the dust off of the last box to discover a small book on top of it. It looked like a journal of some kind and from the look of it, it hadn't been touched in ages. He turned back to the box. He would look at it in a second.

He ran his hand along the side of the box and saw the words, Planet Vegeta. His heart raced. What could be in here?

The first thing he saw made him smile. At the very top of the box was a photo, his father was standing there as a child. Looking around the photo, he was kind of shocked. There was a woman with short hair standing there holding another baby and from the looks of it, it was a boy. His eyes went back to his father, who was being held up by a man that looked like him. The two of them were laughing, something he had never imagined his father doing.

But his eye zeroed in on one thing. That ugly necklace from before was around his grandfather's neck.

He walked to the second box and pocketed it. If it really was important to his grandfather, he would gladly wear it, no matter how ugly it was.

He moved back to the box with the photo in it and found another under the first one. This one only had three saiyans in it. There was a really tall, balding man with a really skinny mustache. At his feet, he could see his father had a mischievous smile on his face. It looked like he had just finished pulling a prank or something like that. Next to him was another boy with long black hair. The boy had the same look on his face that his father did.

He turned the photo over, hoping that he would find any clues on it, but sadly there was nothing.

He scanned the box and found mostly trinkets and garbage. There was more paperwork, but nothing too important.

He set his eyes back on the journal he had found, and decided that he needed to at least see what it was. Too bad this room had horrible light.

He grabbed both of the photos and stuffed them into the journal before he pocketed it and headed back to his room. No one was there. It would only be him for a while anyway.

He made sure that he wasn't seen as he entered his quarters and looked down at it. Now that he had good light he could really see what this is.

_My mom gave me this, so I thought I might as well use this now. The planet is gone along with her and my father. My name is Raditz and I'm only 8 years old. My home planet was Planet Vegeta, but it was destroyed by a meteor, so it's just me, Nappa, and Vegeta._

Trunks froze and pulled the photo free from the random page where he had stuffed it. So this journal belonged to that kid.

He looked back down at the book and started to read.

_I do miss my family. My mom's name was Gine and my dad's name was Bardock. I know that my baby brother is still out there. Kakarot was sent out on a mission before the planet exploded._

Kakarot? Wasn't that the name that his father called Goku? If it was the same person, then this Raditz was Goku's older brother. And didn't Frieza destroy Planet Vegeta, why didn't Raditz know that?

_But that's not the reason, I'm writing today. I wanted to document all of the fun stuff that Vegeta and I have been getting into as of late. I think it will be funny when we get older. Hell, it's really funny now._

Trunks began to laugh as he continued to read. How had he and Goten never thought of any of this? He almost fell out of his bunk more than once when he got to the part about the gelatin.

_Vegeta had an awesome idea today. Nappa has been annoying so we dyed him green and shaved of the rest of his hair. Then we glued the hair we had left over from shaving Zarbon to his head. He yelled at the two of us for at least 2 hours straight and then we got in trouble with Frieza, but it was all worth it._

Trunks was still having trouble imagining his father this way. He had to wonder what had changed? He continued on.

_Vegeta came back from seeing Frieza today. He doesn't seem right. He said that he had a headache, which is weird. He said he wanted to sleep it off. When I asked Nappa about it, Nappa told me that Frieza is having Vegeta do something that was beneath him. Then Nappa said that if I am really Vegeta's friend, then I would gladly ask to take Vegeta's place. So that's what I'm going to do. Vegeta doesn't need to have all of that stress anyway. He needs to get stronger so we can leave this place._

Trunks felt something cold in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like this. This sounded familiar.

_Vegeta came up to me earlier. He asked me what was wrong, but I really don't know. I don't remember anything. Over the last couple of weeks, there are nothing but blurs. Vegeta looks worried, but I figured that I just must be tired. We decided to go train, but for some reason, it feels like we are getting pulled apart._

Trunks turned the page and looked at the next entry. It was over a year after the last one.

_I feel dirty. What have they been doing to me? Nappa told me that I should be used to it, but I can't stop shaking. I feel sick to my stomach. I can remember their hands. Nappa, Zarbon, Dodoria, Frieza…they're everywhere and I can't escape. I don't want to deal with this. Why am I so alone? Vegeta tried to talk to me, but I can't let him see me like this. I don't want him to see me like this._

Trunks froze. Now he understood everything. His father's indifference and anger towards his and Goten's pranks was now made clear.

Tears were beginning to sting his eyes as he read the last entry.

_I don't know how much longer I can hold on. This isn't fair. Why did this happen to me? I'm already a third class. Everyone already hates me. I have nothing in this world, so why am I even here? All I see is hands. They took me off of my medicine and now I can't even think about anything else. Nappa told me that I had to do this. I needed to do this. If I could do it again, I probably would have, even though this is painful… I would do anything for My Prince._

To Be Continued…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note  
> Poor Trunks, it looks like he's alone again, but it looks like he found something a lot more interesting. If you noticed, this series include multiple friendships, all of which have suffered over time.


	16. Chapter 16

Kabu paced as he looked over the controls. Son Goku was going to die. He just wished that Frieza hadn't sent him back here. He could have done a lot of damage to that precious Earth of his.

Zarbon was calling all of their ships to Earth. They were going to strike the Planet in two days' time. He could hardly wait. He could remember now that Son Goku had a son. That Gohan character would be taken care of first.

But there was one thing bugging him. Who was that Trunks guy, and why did he want to talk to him? He had never seen something like him around here before. He looked so out of place.

Zarbon seemed to want to torment that guy, but he couldn't figure out why? From what he could remember of his time on Earth, that Trunks guy was with Goku's allies. But then why had he followed him back? Could he be a spy?

"I don't think that's the case." Kabu looked down, and to his surprise, it wasn't the same child he was used to seeing. For some reason, he had long black hair and his voice was completely different.

"Who are?" He felt confused.

"That's not important. You just need to listen to me." The child said.

He glared at the boy. "Why would I listen to a brat?"

"Because I know the truth. You just can't see it because you've been blinded again." The boy said. He made to strike the boy, but his hand went through him. "That's not going to work, Goten."

Why did the boy call him that? Wasn't that what that Trunks guy had called him? "That's not my name."

The boy frowned. "Stop running, Goten. If you don't, you'll fall into the fog and never come back."

"The fog?" He pondered.

"The whiteness, it will devour you. Don't let it take you like it took me." The boy then disappeared from sight.

He stood there in shock. Who was that kid and why was he doing this? What did he know that Kabu didn't? What was the whiteness that he was describing?

Fear almost consumed him. What if the boy was right? What if his memories were the key to unlocking everything?

He shook his head. He didn't have time for all of this. He had to get the army to Earth. Son Goku had to die. That would put an end to all of this.

* * *

Piccolo sighed, they had made some progress on the ground. They were taking down soldiers almost every ten minutes.

Krillin gave him a look as they tossed another body on the fire. Piccolo didn't need any food, but the humans did. They hadn't eaten in a while and it was going to start taking a toll on them.

"I wonder when they are going to stop coming?" Yamcha said, looking down at the bodies.

"They aren't going to stop until Frieza and Kabu are defeated." Marron said, looking away from the smoke. The smell of burning flesh was still new to her.

"I wonder why Frieza still hasn't tried to attack the planet on his own?" 18 said.

Krillin looked up at the sky. "Because we are nothing to him. He's waiting for Goku. He's the one he wants."

"But isn't that what that Kabu guy also wants?" Marron asked.

"Yeah, but I think that may be a part of Frieza's plan. He's distracting Goku with Kabu." Tien stated, tossing a deer down on the ground. None of them looked too happy to have to gut it, but they really had no choice.

The city around them was nothing but chaos. Krillin wasn't even sure if there were any people left. The had to make sure that Piccolo survived this, if he didn't Earth would be lost.

"My question is, why hasn't Goku done anything?" Yamcha said, confusing the rest of them.

"Because Frieza is too strong right now. You know that you felt his Ki when he landed." Tien stated.

"Vegeta and Goku would have been sitting ducks." Piccolo said.

They all looked down. It seemed like hope may have been lost. They were still together and taking out soldiers, but how long would they last? If the saiyans couldn't do anything about Frieza, then who could?

A blast fired next to their camp and everyone stood up quickly. They started to power up as they prepared themselves for another onslaught.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" A voice came shattering through the clearing. All of them looked up to find a Kamehameha being fired at the field that they were just preparing to attack. Bodies and artillery went flying in the opposite direction. All of the humans along with Piccolo were stunned.

Krillin knew that voice, but it was not saiyan. He looked over as the young teen landed.

"Uub!" Marron went over to greet him. Of course, Goku's student would have shown up to this mess.

"What are you doing out here?" Piccolo asked.

"I came to find what is causing this. I thought I would find my mentor, but I can't find Son anywhere." Uub began.

"That's because he's up on the Lookout." Tien said.

"Oh, I forgot that place was up there." Uub stated. "Do you know where all of this is coming from?"

Krillin sighed. "This is Frieza's army. It looks like someone resurrected him with the Dragonballs." Uub gave him a look that screamed, 'I have no idea who you are talking about,' so he had to start at the beginning.

* * *

Trunks looked down at the armor he was wearing. After knowing the truth about everything, couldn't just stay here. He needed to go back home. If he could talk with his father, he knew they could come up with a plan together.

If he was correct, Goten was not the only one that needed to be freed from Frieza. His father had to still bear the scars of losing his best friend. Vegeta needed closure.

He pulled the jumpsuit down around his neck and noticed that his hair had grown out a bit. It was longer than it was when he left. He shrugged. He was going to have to cut it when he got home.

He picked up the journal and stuck it under the chest plate. Both pictures and the document where inside of it. The necklace on the other hand was around his neck. He wasn't going to let it out of his sight now that he knew it was a family heirloom. His father would have a heart attack when he saw it.

Trunks sighed to himself. He didn't like the idea of leaving Kabu alone with Zarbon. Now that he knew what that drug was, he wasn't keen on leaving anyone with Zarbon. But he needed to get back. He had to warn his family of the storm that was coming.

He hoped that they wouldn't be too mad. He had his reasons for everything. He had to go and save Goten. They would understand. At least, he hoped they did. His father would probably chew him out and his mother would be freaking out. Bra on the other hand…

His eyes flew open wide as he remembered Goten's words. He liked Bra's smell. If Trunks remembered everything correctly, then smell was a key for memory. His sister may be able to help him. He just needed to test this for himself.

He wanted to laugh at himself. The idea of Kabu sniffing around his sister wasn't appealing, but he couldn't think of any other options right now. He needed to find out if Goten could be saved.

He could see Goten now. Goten would be thrilled to be given the okay to go after Bra. Even though he knew that Trunks would never give it. She was barely a teen and he just couldn't be okay with something like that. The idea of his best friend liking his sister was just weird.

He didn't have time to think about this. He had to get going. There was no time to waste.

He took one last deep breath as he looked over the barrack he was in. This was it. If he failed after this, he would lose everything forever.

He decided that that wasn't an option. He was going to go and make his goal a reality. He had done it once. He could do it again.

With that, he pushed out into the hall. It was empty. He hadn't planned to leave this late. The night patrol would be out, but that was the least of his worries. He had no idea if Kabu or Zarbon were watching him. Zarbon was a given, but Kabu was the question mark. Kabu didn't know who he was, so he must have not seen him as a threat, unless Zarbon told him that he was.

He moved quickly as he made his way back to the hanger that he had been in the day that the two of them landed here. It seemed like a distant memory now. They had only planned to be gone for a couple months and here it was a month and it felt like his world had been turned upside down. Ever since Kabu showed up he had been running off in search of the truth and he didn't like what he had found, and everything was back to square one.

As he made it to the hanger, he started towards the pods. He needed to get the right coordinates or he was going to end up in empty space. He hoped that Earth was programed in.

He looked over the pods and sighed. He didn't like the idea of getting back in one of those, but it was going to have to work for now.

He moved close to a pod, but had to dodge out of the way. He turned around to find Zarbon standing there laughing at him. "So you thought that you could just escape and I would never notice?"

He glared at the green man and prepared himself. He knew that this would happen. "No, I figured that you would show up."

Zarbon smirked. "Good, then you won't mind if I kill you and send your body to your father, then."

He growled. "Leave my father out of this!" His anger was growing as he thought about all of those horrible things that had been done to his father by this man.

Then out of nowhere, Zarbon changed form. "Let's see how you hold up to your old man."

Zarbon charged him and he only had seconds to dodge the attack. During that time, he powered up to super saiyan. Zarbon stared at the form for a second. Before lunging forward to punch him. Trunk's head flew back and he fell to the floor.

Zarbon stood there and began to power up his attack. "Good bye."

Trunks kicked at Zarbon's legs tripping the alien to the ground. Trunks wheeled around and got back to his feet. Zarbon was already back on his feet and he was snarling.

Trunks felt his mind slipping back into that mode from the day before and he let it come forward. Zarbon made to punch him again, but he caught his fist then twisted his arm around so that Zarbon's back was to him. He moved quickly as he powered up his attack. "This is for Goten." He growled into Zarbon's ear as he sent a Galic Gun through the man's back and out his chest.

Zarbon spit out blood and fell to the floor his eyes were still twitching around. "You… you're just like him…"

Trunks growled. "You have no right to speak about him."

"It won't matter… you… you won't win." Zarbon said with his last breath.

Trunks kicked the corpse, making sure that it was dead. He smirked to himself, then noticed that his left cheek was wet. He looked over to the side and found that he was bleeding. Zarbon must have gotten him when he had punched him in the face.

Trunks looked back down at the corpse. "You're wrong." He turned his back on the corpse and walked towards a pod. "Because, I refuse to lose anymore."

He got into the pod and found the coordinates for Earth. He pushed in the buttons and then got an idea.

He stood up from his pod and looked at each of the pods around him. He closed his eyes as he brought more power up from within him. "BIG BANG ATTACK!" Ki twisted around the pods destroying them. They would not have an easy time getting onto Earth.

"This is for your own good, Goten." He said to himself as he got into the pod again. The door closed and he took a deep breath as he began to set up the hibernation. He would get there before Goten would. All he needed was that time.

He smirked for a second, at least he wasn't leaving Goten with Zarbon. Now all he had to worry about was Frieza.

As his pod flashed up into space, he thought one last thing to himself before sleep came over him. "I will see you again, Goten. And trust me, Frieza will pay."

To Be Continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note  
> So Trunks is heading back to Earth and he is a man on a mission.


	17. Chapter 17

Kabu cursed. They had just gotten to Earth, but they were going to have to play their cards right. If Zarbon hadn't've gone after that Trunks guy, they would still have pods.

He did have to chuckle at Zarbon's demise. He was nothing but an eyesore anyway. Now he could take his rightful place as Frieza's right hand man. Trunks had done him a favor really.

He looked back down at the planet. Now all he had to do was land this thing and everything could get underway.

* * *

Trunks's pod hit the ground and the earth almost seemed to explode around him. He quickly began to push the buttons. The hatch opened and he stepped back onto his home planet. He looked around. The signs of Frieza's army were everywhere. He jumped up into the sky and began to fly through the air. Below him was nothing but a charred husk of a city. He could see no survivors.

He knew that they shouldn't have left, and now he was truly convinced of such a thing.

He landed in front of his home. Capsule Corp looked almost in ruins. His father and mother were going to have a cow when they saw this.

He walked into the damaged building, noting the structural damage as he made his way around. He knew that it had to be unstable, but he had to come here. There was no way that he was going to return to the others in this shitty armor.

He had to fly up the stairs because there were no stairs to even look at. He moved into his room and was glad to find it was still intact. Quickly, he changed into something a lot more comfortable. "Man, I really have missed having normal clothes." He said to himself as he pulled on a black tank top.

He walked over to a mirror and looked at himself. The cut on the left side of his face had looked like it was going to scar. He figured that was fair. It would be a nice way to remember how he killed Zarbon. The necklace around his neck looked out of place, but that didn't matter. He grabbed the journal and tossed it into a duffle bag, along with a jacket.

He left his room, and as he moved back down stairs, his stomach rumbled. He wondered if anything was left in the kitchen.

As he was about to turn the corner to go into the kitchen, he heard an annoying beeping sound. He looked around wondering where the blaster was for a good 5 minutes before realizing that it was coming from the lab.

A light bulb went off in his head. They had never seen the results of the drug test that he and Goten had done.

He already knew what that drug had been used for. He growled low in his throat as he thought about not only Goten going through that, but Raditz. He would not allow what had happened to Raditz to happen to Goten. He was not going to lose his best friend the same way that his father had. Insanity had to have come over Raditz. That was the only thing he could really think of, but still that was a horrible fate.

He walked over and grabbed the results sheet and put it into the duffle bag. His stomach had been forgotten again as he made his way to the front door. He needed to get to the lookout. He had a lot to explain.

* * *

Finally, the ship had landed. It had taken his crew longer than he expected, which annoyed him to no end.

He slipped passed them and straight to Frieza. His master gave him a smile, then frowned. "Where is Zarbon?"

He chuckled. "That moron went after Trunks. It turned out to be a deadly mistake for him."

Frieza frowned. "So Trunks has escaped?"

He wondered why Frieza seemed to care so much about Trunks. He knew that Trunks was one of Son Goku's allies, but it wasn't like Trunks could really do that much to them. They had the upper hand. "Yes, but it means nothing, My Lord."

Frieza's frown began to fade into a smirk again. "So he has no hold on you then?"

"Why would he?" He asked. He was a little confused. It made him think back to being on the ship, the look that Trunks had given him was almost haunting. Why had he given him that look, and why did Frieza seem to think that he was with Trunks? Was there something that he had missed?

"Don't think about it too much. Why don't you head over and look at sector 5? There is still a lot of ground to cover." Frieza ordered. "Son Goku is bound to show up now that we have the entire army at our disposal."

He smirked at that. "I will not let you down, Lord Frieza."

With that he flew up and away, leaving his master to his own business.

He wiped his mind of that. Instead, he focused his scouter on any sign of life. It would tell him if it was friend or foe.

After a while, he was starting to get frustrated. The scouter wasn't picking up anything. His eyes began to scan the ground for anything, when suddenly he felt something.

It was odd. His body felt warm as he took it in. It was like he could feel his own energy, but how could that be?  _'It's called Ki.'_  A voice said in back of his head. He looked around, no one else was here. It was only him.

He shook his head. "That was weird." He turned around quickly as he sensed it again, but this time it wasn't his own. He could feel one after the other disappearing from this place. Someone was on a killing spree.

He smirked. It wouldn't hurt him to see it. He had to wonder how many Earthlings were being taken out at once.

He flew towards the disappearing Ki and watched as entire squad of their soldiers were tossed around like rag dolls. He frowned as he prepared himself to attack the person responsible.

His eyes caught its target, but they froze. Her movements were so carefully placed as she kicked a man through his stomach. She then turned around and punched another soldier's head off. As he looked down and watched it roll across the ground, he felt his heartbeat pick up. He looked back at her and found himself drooling as she continued the onslaught. Her fighting style was like watching a perfectly trained dancer perform and he couldn't get enough of it.

As the last soldier fell to the ground, he took in all of her beauty. Everything from her slender, muscular body to her long, flowing, blue hair was jumping out to him, making him growl low in his throat.

She glared at him. "You!"

He didn't even think about it as she punched him in the face. Hell, he just took it with a goofy smile on his face.

He shook his head and looked at her again. This was not the time to be admiring her. "What about me?"

She growled and he was taken aback. "What did you do to my brother?"

She had a brother. That was news to him. He didn't even know who she was.  _'Her name is Bra.'_  The voice said again. He didn't question himself. All he could think of was the fact that he knew this beautiful creature's name. "Who is your brother?" He asked, even though that was the last thing he wished to talk about.

"Where is Trunks at, you bastard?!" She said, getting in his face.

"You mean the guy that…" He stopped talking. The most wonderful aroma had entered his nose and with it images started to surface. Next to her was that young man…Trunks. He wasn't really there, but his mind had placed him there.

He began to float to the ground as everything began to push its way back to the surface. Trunks helping him remember, the plan in space…how could he be so blind? Where was Trunks now? He knew that he had survived Zarbon, but that didn't mean that he hadn't been wounded. If only he had kept himself from forgetting again. This was all his fault. Everything was his fault.

"Kabu?" Bra came over, she looked at him with worry. Why was she so worried about him?

He grabbed onto his head as more memories came forward, these were more twisted. All of his kills, men, women, children, it hadn't matter to him. Nothing but revenge had mattered to him; his revenge against…Son Goku.

A scene played before his eyes, it was right before the tournament. He was hiding behind his mother's leg as he came face to face with his father for the first time. Son Goku.

"Kabu!" He turned to look at Bra again, she still looked worried. This time a different memory began to move through his head. That horrible day. The day he had been taken.

"0606777" He said.

"What?"

"0606777, 0606777, 0606777, 0606777" he couldn't stop saying it over and over again.

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"I need to go." With that he leaned into her and gave her a small kiss on the cheek before flying back towards Frieza.

* * *

Piccolo took a deep breath, after they had told Uub everything, he had wanted to go and meet with Goku. The others weren't that happy about the idea. They were still a little hesitant about going back to the saiyans.

They just needed a small push. "Come on, we can make a plan if we are all together." Uub argued.

"I don't know." Yamcha started, just as something flew overhead. "Is that Pan?"

The young girl stopped and landed. "We've been wondering where all of you went." Pan said.

They all stared at her in confusion. "Pan?" 18 started.

"Yeah?" Pan answered.

"You…you used the time chamber didn't you?" Krillin answered.

Pan blushed. "We had to! Bra and I had to get stronger!"

Everyone looked at her in confusion. "So Goku and Vegeta didn't use it?" Tien said, clearly puzzled by the idea.

Pan shook her head. "No, Vegeta only went in there to train Bra. Grandpa has been keeping his eye on Frieza."

"See, I told you that Goku was looking after our best interests." Uub said, speaking up.

Pan seemed to freeze as she looked at him. Her face went red. "Who are…?"

Uub looked at her, and looked taken aback with the look she was giving him. "Pan? Wow, I haven't seen you since we were kids."

She blushed even redder. "Uub?"

"Yeah." Uub just stared back at her.

"Well if that's the case, we should get going." Krillin stated.

Marron on the other hand had a smug look on her face as she looked between Pan and Uub. The blonde walked over and whispered in Pan's ear. "Pan and Uub sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G…" Pan turned even redder. "It's not so funny when you're the one getting picked on, is it?"

Pan shook her head. "No."

"Are we going or not?" Yamcha asked.

Piccolo smirked. "I think you already know the answer."

* * *

Trunks could already see the outline of the Lookout in front of him. He just had to figure out how he was going to do this. How was he going to convince them not to kill Kabu? He wasn't sure if he should tell them the truth just yet. It could be disastrous if they all tried to pile their memories on Goten at once.

But there was no time. He had to go and see what would happen. He just hoped that they still trusted him. He really didn't leave on the right foot after all. He took a deep breath. It was now or never.

He flew towards the Lookout and looked down before he landed. To his surprise, he could see quite a few people there to greet him. The first being Marron.

She ran forward and all he could do was stare at her. She looked a lot more toned then she had a month ago.

She got next to him, then, out of nowhere, punched him in the side of the face. He looked down and found that his nose was bleeding. She was glaring at him. "You bastard!"

He chuckled. "I deserved that."

She gave him a puzzled look. "What?"

"Whatever I did to make you mad. I haven't been the most trustworthy person as of late." He said sheepishly. A blush was slipping across his face.

The rest of the group looked wary, until he heard the doors to the lookout open. A couple of seconds later, he had been pulled into a hug by his mother. "I… I thought…"

"I'm sorry. I just had a mission that I had to take care of." Trunks answered.

"And what mission would that be?" Trunks felt his body tense up as he looked at Goku. All he could see was pure hatred in the man's eyes. Gohan didn't look any better.

"Well…" He began.

"Trunks?" His father walked forward, but was looking at him in awe. He was about to ask when he saw what his father's eyes were looking at. "Where did you…?"

He touched the pendent and smiled. "I found it when I was sneaking around Frieza's ship. I actually found a lot of shit from back then."

Vegeta came closer and put his hand on it. His father had to be asking himself if it was even real. "I thought that my father died with it."

Everyone seemed shocked. It wasn't every day that Vegeta talked about his family back on Planet Vegeta. Sure, he had thrown his title around, but he never really brought up his family.

Trunks smiled as he took the necklace off and handed it to his father before putting his duffle bag down and opening it. He took out the journal, but only pulled out the family photo. "I do have a question though. Who is the kid that grandma is holding?"

Vegeta looked shocked as he took the photo from his son. "Tarble…" His father's arm looked like it was about to shake. "That would be my brother, Tarble. Frieza had him killed when he was 4."

Trunks could tell that his father seemed very shaken about this. "Why?"

His father just couldn't stop staring at the photo in front of him. "Tarble was born without a power level. He couldn't fight. Frieza took him when I was gone on a mission. My mother killed herself a couple of days after that."

Trunks decided that it was time to turn his father away from a subject so grim. "What about this?" He pulled out the photo of three saiyan survivors. "Now I do have to ask you one thing about it."

"What?" His father asked.

"Was this before the gelatin or after?" Trunks asked.

He watched as his father's sadness melted away into laughter. "How do you know about that?"

"I had a pretty good source, but you didn't answer my question." Trunks pushed.

His father continued to laugh. "That was before. Trust me, you would have known if it was after." Vegeta was having trouble breathing as he remembered one of the few fond memories from his childhood.

"This is fun and all, but I want some answers, Trunks." Goku said, snapping Trunks out of the moment.

"What do you need to know?" Trunks said, knowing that this was about to become very painful.

"Are you still with Kabu?" Goku growled.

"If you're asking if I'm gay then no, that was just a tactic to get into Frieza's base." He knew that really wasn't the answer Goku was looking for, but it was going to have to do for the moment. Behind him, he heard more than one sigh of relief.

"That wasn't what I was talking about. Are you still in league with him?" Goku pressed.

"I am, but I'm not. It's hard to explain." Trunks turned to his father. "Kabu has been deceived. Frieza has been poisoning his mind for quite a while." Trunks pulled out the data sheet from the machine and passed it to his mother.

"Bendotrophocaine." Bulma said out loud.

His father dropped the necklace to the ground. "Frieza's been erasing his memories." All eyes went to Vegeta and stared at him in confusion. "It's a drug that's used to treat PTSD on the battlefield." He knew that his father didn't want to talk anymore about it.

"So then Kabu has no idea what he's doing?" Chichi said sadly. "That must be hard."

Goku didn't flinch though. "Is that all that you found?"

Gohan looked disappointed as well. "Then maybe I was wrong then."

"What did you think I was doing?" Trunks asked.

"We thought that you were going after Goten's killer." Gohan answered.

Trunks had to take a step back. "I… I kind of was."

Goku and Gohan stared at him. Chichi was also staring at him. All of them were now looking at him like he was their last life line to this Earth.

"DAD!" Everyone turned to look, and Trunks watched as his sister landed. He knew that they had to have used the Time Chamber, but he wasn't expecting this. Now Goten would have no excuse not to go after her.

"Bra?" He questioned her.

She looked at him for a second. "Trunks? You've come back!" She pulled him into a tight hug, almost choking him. When had she gotten this strong?

"I… I can't breathe…" She quickly let him go, then she had a panicked look on her face. "We have to help Kabu!"

He looked at her in shock. "You've seen him?"

She nodded. "It was odd. He just stood there and watched me kill a bunch of his men, then he fell to the ground and started saying a string of numbers over and over again."

"What were the numbers?" Gohan asked.

"0606777." Bra said.

"Are you sure?" Trunks asked.

"I'm positive. He wouldn't stop saying it. I just wonder what it means." Bra said, sadly.

"It's not just any numbers, it's a date." Everyone turned to Bulma. "June 6, of the year 777."

Trunks knew that day well, but he wasn't the only one. Goku and Gohan both roared behind him. That was the day that Goten died.

"I'm going to kill him!" Goku said about ready to fly off.

"You can't!" Trunks turned and grabbed Goku's arm.

"You don't get to tell me what to do!" Goku snapped.

"That's what Frieza wants!" He snapped back. "He wants you to kill Kabu!"

Goku only chuckled. "And why would Frieza want that? What would that achieve?"

"Because Frieza wants you to kill your son!" He growled back.

Goku looked at him like he had grown two heads. "Why would I kill Gohan?"

Trunks shook his head. "No, Goku. Kabu isn't just some random saiyan. Kabu is Goten!"

To Be Continued…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note  
> See that test did come back. I didn't forget about it. Hehe, so Trunks has spilled the beans. How is Goku going to react to Frieza's deception? Hell, how is Goku going to react to the fact that Kabu is really his son?


	18. Chapter 18

Goku froze as those words came from Trunks's mouth. His mind was having a hard time comprehending what he had just heard. That couldn't be right. He started comparing Kabu to the boy that he once knew and found himself coming up blank. How could Kabu be his little boy? "I… How?" Even as he asked himself these questions, he was coming up with nothing. The idea that Goten could still be alive was dashed over 10 years ago. He had seen a body. He held that body. He mourned that body for the last 10 years. If that body was still alive, he would have known.

Trunks gave him a sad look. "We were all deceived. Goten was taken all of those years ago."

Goku shook his head. "No… That's…" The scenario started playing over and over in his head. "There was a body."

"Goku, that was a decoy. Frieza planted it to throw us off." There was no hint of deception on Trunks's face. The boy had to believe everything that he was saying.

"That would explain it." Goku turned around along with everyone else, to find Dende standing there pondering something.

"What?" Part of Goku didn't want the God of Earth to answer. He didn't want Trunks's words to be true. If they were…

"The Dragonballs didn't work. If Goten was still alive, that would explain why they couldn't revive him." Dende explained.

Goku's stomach felt like it was about to drop out from his insides. If this was true, he would have been planning to… He would have killed his own son. "I…"

"But why doesn't Goten remember his past?" Krillin interjected.

Trunks sighed, he looked tired of explaining all of this, but it turned out that he didn't have to. "He's been drugged, hasn't he?" Vegeta said, looking at Trunks with complete certainty.

Trunks nodded. "The drug has been placed in his system plenty of times. Frieza just told him that his name was Kabu."

"Plenty of times is putting it lightly." Bulma said, looking over the sheet that Trunks had brought. "This dose is rather high for it to just be plenty. I bet that he was taking it just about every day."

Vegeta mumbled something under his breath. The Saiyan Prince looked enraged for some reason.

"Dad?" Bra asked, she looked afraid.

"That bastard did it again." Vegeta growled.

Trunks put his hand on his father's shoulder. "That's why we need to save him. We can still save Goten."

"So let me get this straight." Bra started. "Kabu is really the best friend that you lost all of those years ago?"

Trunks nodded then froze as he watched his sister turn red. "Did he do anything to you?" He asked, feeling a little angry.

Goku and Vegeta both stared at Bra along with everyone else. Bra turned redder. "That's none of your business!"

"Does that really mean that my baby is alive?" Chichi said, in tears.

Goku was still trying to accept the idea. He was still trying to place it.

"The age… the Kamehameha… his appearance…" Gohan was naming off everything he could think about Kabu. "It all makes sense now.

As soon as Gohan brought up the Kamehameha, Goku felt like he had been punched upside the face. Kabu knew his signature move and it had bothered him back then. His dreams were now making sense. Everything had been trying to tell him the truth. He had just been blinded by his grief and hatred. "Goten…"

"Oh shit!" Goku looked up and found them surrounded by Frieza's forces.

He growled. He didn't care about any of them. He was going to get his son back. He didn't care who he had to kill to do it.

* * *

Goten landed close to Frieza's base, sending a blast straight at the ship causing it to explode into thousands of pieces. He growled as he passed a group of soldiers. They were all firing blasts at him. He didn't care. He would just erase them.

One ran forward and he elbowed him in the gut, before twisting his head off. Blood splattered onto his armor and he took satisfaction in seeing it. He would destroy every single member of Frieza's army. It was the only way that he could atone for his sins. He couldn't face anyone until he made up for his actions, even if this led to his death.

Another round of soldiers came after him and he laughed as he fired blasts up at them. Some striking them in their chests, some hitting their faces, few were left standing. Those that were still alive wouldn't be that way for very long.

A man stalked forward, only to get kicked in the stomach then elbowed in the kidneys. Blood was already starting to paint the ground. The earth smelled of it. Soon his battleground would match his soul.

"I see that you've been having fun, Kabu." He turned around to find Frieza standing there.

"You bastard! You lied to me!" He snarled.

Frieza only chuckled. "I did no such thing, Kabu. I only helped you realize what you really are."

He stared at Frieza in disbelief. "What the hell are you even talking about?"

Frieza only continued to smile. "If you were left here, you wouldn't have discovered that you love to kill. You would have been stuck studying your life away. Is that what you really want?"

"That doesn't matter! You stole my life away from me!" Goten shouted.

"Now, now, Kabu. There is no reason to shout." Frieza chuckled. "Not when you already know the truth. Your family would have never let you train. I don't think they would have been happy to know how destructive you are. How many people have you killed?"

"That's not important!" He continued to glare at the tyrant. That had hit a nerve and Frieza knew it.

"What about all of the innocent people you have killed? All of those children and babies?" Frieza grinned as he spoke.

"You lied to me about that! I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't told me to." Goten said.

"Really? That's not what I saw. You loved it, Kabu. You wanted to watch them die. It gets your blood flowing." Frieza said talking a step closer to him.

"You… You're wrong…" Goten's voice was barely a whisper. He didn't want to admit it. He wasn't going to admit it.

He didn't even notice Frieza had gotten as close as he had, until he was speaking in his ear. "You liked watching them cry out in pain. Every crying child, every bloody woman, every family torn apart by your hands was pleasurable to you."

"No…" That wasn't his fault. It was Frieza's, wasn't it? He didn't want to do those things. As he argued with himself, he could feel this dreadful feeling building in the back of his head. It felt like a major headache was coming on, but it was worse than that.

' _Goten, don't give in. He wants you to do that.'_  The voice from before shouted at him.

"But…" He started.

' _Its all a lie. You know that. Don't let him trick you. You can't let the fog take you away.'_  The voice cut him off.  _'You can't come here like I did.'_

What was the voice even talking about? Where was this place that he was talking about and why did he want him to stay away? He was going to answer the voice, but his head continued to throb. He wanted to cry out as he fell to his knees. He started to hit his head against the ground.

Frieza chuckled as he pulled up his face. "It's a little sad that the healing tank didn't heal that mark on your face. Now you look far too old."

"Too old?" He asked fearfully. At the same time, those images from before began to start flashing behind his eyes. He shook his head, that couldn't have happened. His body was starting to shake.

Frieza cackled. "I'll miss watching the way you squirm, Goten."

His eyes went wide. Everything began opening up to him. Every wound, every scar, every horrible memory over the last 10 years. The reason he was drugged from night to night. Frieza would come and find him. He would… Goten wanted to throw up. He was starting to feel dizzy as he remembered the younger version of himself screaming out in pain as Frieza did those horrible things to him. "No…NO!"

A darkness began to take over his body. It felt like it was eating away at him. He wanted it to. It had to destroy everything. He needed to forget this. He didn't want to exist. Not if he had to remember that. The darkness was pulling at him. Pushing him downward into what looked like a bright light. What was this place?

There was a wall there, and even as he tried to go to it, someone was standing his way. He looked over at the person that was in his way and growled. "Move."

"I can't do that, Goten." The long haired man said.

"Why not?!" He snarled.

"Listen to me. I understand, but you can't run away from this. Don't do what I did." The man said.

* * *

Back on the Lookout

Attacks blasted through the sky as warriors from both sides took aim at each other. Trunks moved out of the way just in time as a Destruto Disc flew at more than one enemy, slicing them in half.

He turned, only to discover that Marron was the source of it, which only made Bra's mouth drop. He could see that his sister was rethinking Marron being his crush.

But there was no time for that. He was preoccupied as he looked up at the sky. For some reason, there was a stream of darkness that was going up into the sky. The darkness almost seemed to paint the sky with despair.

There was something haunting about it, and he didn't want to look at it, but he just couldn't take his eyes off of it.

"Kakarot!" He heard his father cry out once he saw the sky. "We need to get to Goten now!"

Goku gave Vegeta a confused look. Most of the soldiers had been taken care of, so they could leave everything to Krillin and the others. Goku nodded as both Vegeta and Trunks put their hands on Goku's back.

They were instantly transported to the place where Goten was. Goten was standing up. His body was surrounded by that darkness. The irises of his eyes were shining almost as if they were giving off moon light. "I see that you've come here." A voice said that sounded nothing like Goten.

"Who are you?" Trunks growled.

The darkness laughed. "I'm Kabu. Don't you remember, Trunks?"

"No, you're not. You are Goten!" He said trying to charge forward.

His father stopped him. "Trunks, we can't stop it. It's going to take him."

Trunks turn and glared at his father. "I'm not going to lose him again. You may have been too afraid to save Raditz, but I'm not."

Trunks pulled free of his father and ran forward. Kabu looked like he was ready to attack as a dark Kamehameha flew through the air at him. He had no time but he was able to pull off a Galic Gun to counter it. The beams struck each other and he was forced to hold it. Back and forth, the light and darkness pushed at each other, but at the same time, the darkness was starting to recede from the sky. "Give up, Trunks. There is no way that you can save him. This is my body now." Kabu said with a dark grin.

"You lie and I will never give up! I never have and never will!" He pushed harder.

"Galic Gun!" To his side his father had started to fire his own attack. "Kamehameha!" Goku yelled out on other side.

The set of attacks pushed the darkness back and sent Kabu back as well. He was almost worried that they had hurt Goten, but Kabu was still on his feet as the dust settled. "So it seems that Son Goku has no problems with killing his son." Frieza said dropping down next to Kabu.

Goku snarled. "Give me back my son!"

Kabu chuckled. "Who would want a father like you? It wasn't like you really cared about him anyway."

Goku looked like he had been smacked across the face. "You don't believe that, Goten!" Trunks said. "You're only letting Frieza fill your mind with nonsense."

Kabu shook his head, but then grabbed onto it. He was breathing hard as his eyes flash back and forth. It was like Goten was trying to come back, but Kabu was pushing him down. "Why won't you leave dammit?!" Kabu growled.

Suddenly something pushed Kabu down to the ground. "TRUNKS, NOW!" A voice he had never heard shouted at him, but he didn't question it, he only ran forward and grabbed onto Kabu. With that they disappeared from sight.

* * *

Vegeta was frozen in place. He couldn't believe he had just heard that voice.

Goku looked at him as Frieza began to go overhead. "Vegeta, Frieza is on the move!"

"Raditz." Goku have him a funny look before Vegeta powered up to super saiyan. He would to this. He would go after that tyrant. "Come on, Kakarot."

"Why did you bring up my brother?" Goku asked.

"Now's not the time Kakarot. Let us get rid of Frieza once and for all."

Goku nodded. "For Goten." Goku said before taking off after Frieza.

"For Raditz." Vegeta said quietly before following suit.

To Be Continued…


	19. Chapter 19

Trunks looked around and gauged his surroundings. He was in what looked like a completely white room. There was a fog around him, Kabu was no nowhere to be found.

He walked forward and found a clear wall. "What is that?"

"Don't touch that." He heard a voice say from the other side of the wall.

He looked and only saw the outline of a man. From what he could see, it looked like an older Raditz from the photo. "Raditz?"

The man only gave him a smile. "Come, you can help me."

"Help you with what?" He asked.

"Goten wants in here. I need to keep him from entering this place." Raditz said, confusing him.

Raditz walked along the wall and Trunks followed from his side. "What is this place?" He asked.

"This is the void." Raditz answered. "It's the place where all of the things that are forgotten in this world end up."

Trunks shook a little. How could Raditz talk about it so calmly. "But you haven't been forgotten."

Raditz chuckled. "That's not what I meant. Beyond here, all people are forgotten. Those that chose to erase themselves lie behind here."

Trunks didn't like the sound of that. Just the idea of it sent chills down his spine. Why would anyone ever want to be forgotten? Hell, why did Goten want to be in there. "Why does Goten...?"

"He remembers everything. He blames himself for the things that aren't his fault. He's making the same mistakes that I did." Raditz admitted. "If I had been in my right mind, I would have seen the error of my own ways. But here I am. I left everything behind to stay here behind the curtain. Only to find that it's lonely on this side. That I can never escape this place nor can I die. I can only watch over the living world and say nothing. That was until I started watching the two of you. I couldn't stand by and watch my nephew make the same mistake that I did."

"So if Goten ends up on that side, he'll never be able to escape?" He asked, shivering. It was cold.

"No. There is no way out. Once you are in here, you will stay here." Raditz stated. They had stopped and Raditz was looking ahead of him.

Trunks looked over, and leaning against the wall, was Goten. Goten had fallen to the ground and it looked like he was falling asleep.

Trunks bounded forward. "Goten!"

Goten jumped, and looked over to find Trunks coming at him. "Trunks? What are you doing here?"

"I came to get you out of here." Trunks looked around. "Where is Kabu?"

"He can't exist in this place. He is made up of the darkness that was inside of Goten." Goten turned to look at Raditz.

"I still don't understand what's going on." Goten said. "Who are you and why won't you let me go."

"This is not the exit." Raditz stated. "This is a prison."

"Then how do we get out of here?" Trunks asked.

Raditz gave the two of them a smile. "You already know the answer to that."

"I'm not going anywhere." Goten said angrily.

"Goten, we have to go after Frieza! Everyone is waiting for us!" Trunks argued.

"And why would they want me? I'm a monster, Trunks! I've killed so many people!" Goten argued back.

"They don't care about that! We can fix everything, Goten!" Trunks shouted at him.

"The Dragonballs can't heal me! They can't give me my life back. They can't give me back my innocence!" Tears were flowing from Goten's eyes. "They can't erase what Frieza did to me."

Trunks gave Goten a sad look. "No, they can't do that. But staying here isn't going to fix everything. All its going to do is make you regret running away. With time you can move forward."

"How would you know that, huh?" Goten said, on edge; he looked so broken.

Trunks walked forward and looked at his friend straight in the eye. "Because you have me and I'm not going to lose you again." Goten's fears looked like they were wavering. "Together, we can do anything, remember?"

"Together." Goten said.

"I refuse to lose you again. Your family refuses to lose you again. We need you, Goten. I need you. Don't leave me alone again." Trunks pleaded. "Don't leave me alone with the darkness while you run off into the white." Trunks didn't know when he had started to cry, but he could feel tears falling from his eyes.

"Trunks… I… I'm scared." Goten said.

"And you think I'm not? I'm terrified." Trunks said.

"Why are you scared?" Goten asked.

"Because I could lose you. I've lived a life without you for the last 10 years. I can't do that for the rest of my life. I don't want to become bitter like my father. I want us to stay on Earth. I can marry Marron and you can do what you want and we can just go through the rest of our lives."

"You mean I can marry your sister?" Goten almost joked.

"Goten." Trunks didn't want to sound irritated at Goten right now, but he didn't want to think about that.

"She's old enough now." Goten stated.

"That's not the point. Are you going to come with me or not?" Trunks asked.

Goten looked away from him and towards the wall. Both of them looked at Raditz, who was just looking up at the ceiling. It looked like the light was becoming brighter. "I think it's time." Raditz said.

Goten looked back at Trunks and it was almost like a light bulb had gone off in his head. "Fusion. We can get out of here by becoming Gotenks." Goten stated.

Trunks smirked. "Will it really be that easy?"

"There's only one way to find out." Goten said.

* * *

Goku and Vegeta were breathing heavily. Frieza had already transformed into his forth form and was giving them some trouble. Super saiyan was having no effect on Frieza so they had moved on to the second form of super saiyan, but it too proved to be futile.

"How did he get this strong?" Vegeta growled. "The last time he was on Earth, Future Trunks wiped the floor with him."

"He must have heard about how strong we have gotten and trained for this." Goku added.

"So it looks like we are going to have to go the same route as we did with Buu." Vegeta pointed out.

"I don't think that will be enough. From how he's acting, I don't know if that's his final form anymore." Goku said, leering at Frieza.

Frieza only laughed. "Why am I not surprised? Of course you would have figured that out." Frieza backed away. "How about I show it to you? Then crushing you will be more satisfying."

Both Vegeta and Goku got into a fighting stance and prepared themselves for hell as Frieza's body started to glow. They could feel the power coming off of the tyrant as his body made to change. "What are we going to do now?" Goku asked Vegeta.

Vegeta only glared up the man that had made his life a living hell and cursed. He didn't wish to lose everything again.

Frieza reappeared with a smirk on his face. One the outside he seemed a little more muscular, but his coloring was a golden color. However, the power that was coming off of him was enough to inspire terror in anyone.

"It's time to say goodbye to your precious planet, monkeys. Here's to you living longer than I planned for you to." Frieza prepared a blast in his hands and tossed it down at the Earth.

This was it. Everything was about to end. Vegeta closed his eyes, expecting to reopen them in hell, but nothing happened. His eyes flashed open to find something glowing in the sky.

Frieza glared at it. "What are you? And why are you standing in my way!"

"Because I refused to let you destroy this place the same way you destroyed me!" Two voices spoke as one and Vegeta couldn't believe his eyes.

"Gotenks?" Goku was also shocked. If that was really Gotenks, then Trunks had to have saved Goten.

Gotenks's body was surrounded in white light, but the once purple sections of his hair were much darker, almost as if the essence of darkness had been placed there.

"And who are you to tell me what to do? Do you know who I am?!" Frieza growled then sent a blast his way.

"Gotenks!" Both Vegeta and Goku watched the place where the blast had hit and jumped up in worry. Dust had been knocked into the sky.

Frieza dove forward, chuckling as he made his way over. "What a stupid man. Getting in the way of my perfect revenge." Frieza made to look at his victim, only to get a swift kick to the gut, which made the tyrant cough up some blood. "How?" Frieza spat his blood onto the ground.

The dust spun around them and Gotenks laughed as he moved quickly, grabbing Frieza by the tail and flinging him up into the air. Frieza had a look of shock on his face as Gotenks moved at break neck speeds and appeared in the sky above him, then knocked Frieza back towards the ground.

Frieza had no time to move as Gotenks moved downward and kicked him right in the stomach, forcing more blood from Frieza's mouth. "You've taken enough. I will restore my pride and my honor." Gotenks growled.

Frieza's body came out of its golden form and Frieza looked up at Gotenks in fear. Frieza growled. "Who the hell are you?"

Gotenks looked down at Frieza. "Don't you remember, Frieza? You were the one that tried to destroy my life."

Frieza shook his face. How was there a fighter stronger than Goku? It didn't make any sense. Frieza moved his hand down. If he couldn't destroy this fighter, then he would destroy the planet he loved. That would show him.

A blast came down and Frieza looked over at his arm in shock. It had been severed from him body. The pain came seconds later as Frieza let out a scream of agony. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I'm showing you what it's like." Gotenks said, grabbing onto one of Frieza's legs and twisting it roughly, forcing every bone to break. Part of the bone was now sticking out awkwardly. "It looks like you won't be needing this anymore." Gotenks grabbed onto the bone and ripped it out of Frieza's body.

At the same time, Frieza was biting his lip as he looked up at the man that was making this pain possible. He was gathering energy in his hand and was preparing to fire it up at his attacker.

Frieza chuckled to himself as he moved quickly landing a blast straight into Gotenks's face, sending the warrior back. Frieza pulled himself against a rock and transformed into a different form, allowing his broken bone to heal. His arm was still gone, but his third form would have to do for this. He formed another attack, sending a massive blast at Gotenks.

Gotenks growled as he moved his hands into position. He only had time to send out a swirling Kamehameha. A beam of darkness and light hit Frieza's beam and the two stood there at a standstill.

Gotenks put his all into it, as he tried to force Frieza's blast back at him. Frieza wasn't letting up and Gotenks didn't know how much time he had left like this. Time wasn't their friend right now.

"Give up. There is nothing you can do." Frieza snapped.

"Never, like I would lose to a monster like you!" Gotenks said, pushing on the beam, which forced it up into the sky where it exploded.

"I swear; you are a becoming a thorn in my side." Frieza growled.

"You have no idea." Gotenks said, but as he said it, he knew that his time was up and Frieza was forced to watch as Gotenks became Goten and Trunks.

"YOU!" Frieza rumbled.

The two of them glared at the man that had tried his hardest to pull them apart. "Yes, us." Trunks said.

"Who else would it be?" Goten snapped.

"But you should be gone… Both of you should be gone!" Frieza snapped.

"You underestimated us." Goten growled.

"You should have never messed with us." Trunks growled.

Frieza looked livid. "I made you, Kabu!"

Goten snarled. "My name isn't Kabu. It never was Kabu!" Ki began to form in his hands.

Frieza noticed this and fired a blast at him. Goten fired his Ki blast and held Frieza there. "Stop this, boy. You can't win."

Trunks stepped closer to Goten. "You're right. He can't win."

"See your friend knows that it's hopeless." Frieza laughed darkly.

Goten gave Trunks a confused look, but he continued to hold onto his blast. But it wasn't as strong as it had been.

Trunks gave Goten a smile. "Goten can't win alone." Trunks spun around and fired a large Ki blast towards Frieza's. "It's a good thing that he isn't alone!"

Frieza's blast was forced back and the tyrant was encased in their stream of Ki. Frieza let out a cry as he was incinerated against the rock. Smoke filled the sky as Frieza's body fried within the inferno.

They walked together and looked down at the rock. There was only an outline of Frieza left.

Goten stared down at it in shock. It was finally over. Frieza was finally gone. He didn't have to think about him anymore. He was free.

"Trunks." Trunks looked over and found his father and Goku coming towards them. His father had a smirk on his face. "Well done."

"I did what I had to do. Besides, that creep deserved to worse." Trunks answered, then moved to the side. He could already see Goku eyeing Goten.

Goten was still looking down at the rock when he felt a Ki from behind him. He felt afraid. What would his father think of him? He had done so many horrible things. There was so much blood on his hands.

Slowly, he turned to face his father. He no longer had to look up at the man. They were about the same height now. They just stared at each other and it felt like he was a small kid again. Only his mother wasn't here for him to hide behind.

"Goten?" His father said his name, and he heard no malice in his voice. Instead, the strong man in front of him looked like he was going to cry.

"Dad…" Tears were starting to form in his eyes. He couldn't help it as he reached forward and hugged the man in front of him. He knew that he shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't be acting this weak.

Just as he was about to pull away from him, those strong arms pulled him against him. He felt the side of his armor getting wet as a sob came from his father's throat. "I'm sorry. I…"

"Dad, it's not your fault." Goten tried to pull away, but his father wasn't having any of that.

"Just tell me that you're real. Please don't just be a dream" His father was kind of scaring him. Was the rest of his family this damaged? Didn't Trunks say that they fell apart when he left?

"Trust me, I'm real." He finally was able to free himself from his father's bear hug. "And I'm not going anywhere." He was having trouble staying awake. All he wanted was a nice long nap.

His father gave him a smile. "Your mother and Gohan will want to see you."

Goten yawned and he wasn't the only one. Trunks looked dead on his feet.

Vegeta chuckled. "Why don't we get them to Capsule Corp, before they pass out." But as Vegeta said it, Goten fell asleep against his father.

Goku just looked down at his son. "I still can't believe that you've returned." Goku turned and looked at Trunks. He looked like he was going to pass out onto his own father. "Thank you, Trunks."

Trunks gave him a weak smile before he too passed out.

* * *

Vegeta smirked at his son. "You know, I never thought he would ever surpass me."

Goku laughed. "I know what you mean."

"Let's get them somewhere they can lie down." Vegeta said. "I think they deserve a nap."

Goku was having trouble looking away from his son. "I'm just happy to know that he's alive."

"Let's just hope that the scars that Frieza left him won't haunt him forever." Vegeta said.

Goku frowned. "Is it bad that I want to bring him back just so I can kill him again?"

Vegeta began to laugh. "No, Kakarot. I would gladly join you with that."

Goku made to pick up his son, at the same time Vegeta got a hold of Trunks. Bulma and the others would find them. From what he could tell, they had taken care of Frieza's army on the Lookout. It looked like everything was finally going to be okay.

As he flew, Goku kept looking down at his son. His mind kept drifting to the nights where he had to go and pick up Goten from staying with Trunks. His son had always fallen asleep on those trips.

A warmth that Goku hadn't felt in years spread throughout his body. For the first time in 10 years, he could feel again.

To Be Continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note  
> Looks like it's all over, but what's going to happen now? How is the rest of Goten's family going to react to seeing him now that he's back home?


	20. Chapter 20

Trunks rolled on his side as he opened his eyes. He was back in his room. He shook his head. Was all of that a dream?

He pulled himself up and his body ached. If it was a dream, then he had to have pulled a muscle or two in his sleep.

He was about to feel depressed until he noticed that he wasn't alone. Goten was still snoozing away next to him. Their fathers must have thrown them down here.

He couldn't help but laugh as Goten turned in his sleep, but didn't wake up. "Yes, I'll have the cherry soda." Goten said in his sleep.

Trunks got up and out of bed. He could smell the food being made downstairs, which had him excited. The food in space was nothing compared to his grandmother's home cooking.

He figured that Goten would find his way downstairs after he woke up and decided to head out. As soon as he got into the hall, he could tell that Dragonballs had already been used. The house was back to normal.

The smell was becoming more heavenly as he got closer to the kitchen. Now he could smell some of Chichi's homemade dumplings. Goten was going to be in food heaven when he woke up.

When he walked into the dining room, he found it full of people. His family and Goten's were to be expected, but he could also see Marron and her family. Krillin and Goku were carrying on a conversation. It looked like they were catching up on old times.

Bra and Pan looked like they were getting along with Marron now, which was good. The only thing he didn't like were the moments when he could see his sister blushing. He knew who she was thinking about.

Marron looked up at him. "Trunks, you're awake!" She said, excitedly.

He turned red as she walked over to him. "Yeah…I'm up." He said awkwardly.

She giggled as she turned red as well. "Umm… I just wanted to apologize for smacking you."

"Oh… you don't have to. It was my fault." He said anxiously.

"Okay… then why don't you make it up to me over dinner and a movie?" She asked looking down at the ground nervously.

Trunks stood there in awe. "I'd love to…not to say that I love you… I would like to go out with you…not that it's a date…is it…?"

Marron giggled at him. "I think a date would be nice."

Trunks started smiling, he felt like he had just won the lottery or something like that.

"Smooth man. Real smooth." Goten said walking by him.

He was about to make a smart comment when he saw what Goten was holding. "Where did you get that?!" Trunks said, mortified.

Goten chuckled as he flipped through the dirty magazine in front of everyone. "Under your bed, you really do have a thing for blondes."

"Goten, put that away!" Trunks snapped.

Goten threw it on the floor. "You need to find a better hiding place for those. Hell, Zarbon had his hidden better than you did." At that Goten turned green.

Trunks gave Goten a funny look as Vegeta started laughing. "Dad, what's so funny?"

Vegeta walked over, but continued to laugh. "Let me guess, Zarbon was reading Tentacles monthly."

Goten tensed up. "How did you know?"

Vegeta grinned. "Raditz and I found them under Nappa's bed once. After that we never touched Nappa's stuff again."

Trunks couldn't help but ask. "What the hell is Tentacles monthly?"

Both Vegeta and Goten turned a pale green color. "You don't want to know."

"Goten?" Goten turned his head around to see that Chichi had come out of the kitchen.

Goten smiled. "Hey, Mom."

Tears filled her eyes. "My baby!" She jumped on him, making him fall to the ground. "I thought you were never coming back!" She cried into his armor and now it was Trunks's turn to laugh at him.

"Come on, Mom, you're embarrassing me." Goten said, trying to get up. She was trying to clean his face.

"You have this spot on your cheek." Chichi said, spitting on her finger and trying to wipe the cut on the side of his face.

"Mom, that's going to scar." Goten said.

Chichi only smiled. "It makes you look like a tough guy. I bet there will be all kinds of girls."

"Mom!" Goten turned red, but Trunks could clearly see that Goten's eyes went directly to Bra.

"Why don't you sit down? I'm making all of your favorites. I hope you don't mind dessert first." Chichi said running back towards the kitchen.

Goten just sat down at the table. He was really looking forward to actual food. He was starving.

Suddenly, he was surrounded. "I'm starving. Your mother hasn't made a feast like this in ages."

"I can't remember the last time I had normal food." Goten said, joking.

"That was about a month ago I think." Trunks said, sitting down. Marron had seated herself next to him, but she didn't seem mad about the dirty magazine.

Goten looked to his other side and found that Gohan was sitting there. His brother was just staring at him, almost as if he was just trying to figure everything out.

"Gohan?" Goten said, making his brother jump. "What'cha thinking?"

"I… Goten, I… I just want to know what happened." Gohan just wanted some closure.

Goten gave him a sad smile and the room went quiet. Even Chichi had frozen as she came in to check everything. "I was being stupid." He looked down at the table. "I got bored of my studying, so I thought I would go out and have some fun. I ended up in the desert. After that, I was knocked out and then I woke up on Frieza's ship. After that, he… he erased my memories."

Gohan nodded. "What else?"

"There's just a lot of training after that, followed by killing. Is that all?" He really didn't want to talk about all of this right now. If anything, there were certain topics that he would like to steer clear of.

Gohan smiled. "No, that's all."

He looked up and looked at Gohan. Now he looked like he was about to cry. "If you're going to hug me, get it over with."

Gohan gave him a smirk, before dragging him into one. "It's good to have you back."

"It's good to be back." Goten said, smiling back at his brother.

"One more question." Gohan said, this time smirking. "Why were you and Trunks being so cuddly under the stars?"

Suddenly, both him and Trunks were laughing against the table. "We… ha…we were planning on… ha... pranking you with that." He could barely breathe as he started coughing into the table.

Gohan looked taken aback by his answer. "You seriously mean to tell me that the first thing that you two planned to do after getting your memories back was to pull a prank on all of us?!"

Trunks started laughing even harder. "What? We knew that you could see us."

Krillin rolled his eyes. "Some things never change."

"And besides, it was also our way of trying to clue you in that it was Goten," Trunks informed everyone after he stopped laughing.

"What do you mean 'clue us in,' Trunks?" Bulma demanded angrily.

"Hold on a sec," Trunks said as he ran to the living room to grab the picture of him and Goten passed out together on the Gravity Room floor after a heavy training session—the picture that literally everyone had somewhere in their house. "We kind of took inspiration from this," Trunks said, coming back into the dining room and brandishing the old photo.

Everyone stared at it for a moment in shock. "No wonder that scene looked so familiar!" Videl exclaimed. Goku and Vegeta were speechless; how had they not seen that? That picture was in everyone's house. It was on the mantel at his own house, hanging on the living room wall at Gohan and Videl's house, on an end table in the living room here at Capsule Corp, on the wall in the hallway at Kame house, even Piccolo and Dende had copies of the picture! How did they miss that obvious clue? The answer was simple; they had been blinded by rage at Kabu and Frieza, and outrage that Trunks would seemingly betray them by willingly hanging out with Kabu.

Bulma started laughing at the bizarre series of events that had just come to light. The tension and shock left the air, as everyone finally accepted that Goten really was home.

Chichi smiled as she went back into the kitchen, then returned seconds later with a tray filled with small bowls. "I know it's not much, but I remembered that it was your favorite."

Goten's eyes lit up as he looked down at the bowl with orange gelatin in it. There was a small piece of fruit in it.

Next to him, Trunks exploded into laughter as a bowl was placed in front of him. Vegeta looked down at his own, and started laughing.

"Goten, is something wrong?" His mother asked.

He shook his head. "I'm just trying to remember the last time I've seen Jell-O." Goten looked around the room. "I never figured out why it was banned in Frieza's army."

With that, Vegeta fell over backwards in his chair. He continued to laugh till he was coughing. Everyone seemed very confused, but Trunks was also dying of laughter.

Bulma looked very annoyed. "Will someone please explain what is so funny about gelatin with you two!"

Instead of listening to his mother, Trunks made his way over to Goten and began to whisper everything into Goten's ear.

Goten looked back down at his Jell-O, and couldn't stop himself as he began laughing into the table.

"Trunks!" Bulma said angrily. "SPILL!"

Trunks had started laughing hard again, but then walked out of the room. He returned seconds later with the journal in his hands. He went to the page that was needed then passed it to his mother.

Bulma sighed, then proceeded to read it outload. "Today was fun. Dodoria's birthday is coming up, so the bastard is having a giant orange gelatin trifle. Or at least he would have been if Vegeta and I hadn't taken it. I would be surprised if Frieza allowed Jell-O into the empire again. The thing is, Vegeta had the idea of us putting the Jell-O into Frieza's hot bath along with some fruit. The fruit was my idea. Frieza was stuck in his tub for over an hour. The Jell-O had set because he had fallen asleep in the tub. Not only did we get chastised for that, but it turns out that Jell-O stains things."

Across the room, Vegeta howled. "He was orange for two months." He continued to laugh while lying on the floor.

Bulma was staring at her husband as if he had grown another head. "Do you need some air?"

Vegeta only shook his head as he started coughing from laughing too much.

Bulma turned back to the journal. "Frieza is still orange and he smells of fruit too. We got in trouble again, but it was worth it." Bulma finally smiled as she looked at her son and Goten laughing against the table. "Now I see where Trunks gets it from."

"But what about my Goten?" Chichi asked.

"Who's journal is this anyway?" Bulma asked.

His father went quiet on the floor. He was only staring up at the ceiling now. Trunks walked over took the journal from his mother. From there he read the very beginning out loud. Trunks watched his father's every move. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that his father was going to cry, but he didn't. Vegeta just took a deep breath as he listened.

"That's my brother's journal." Goku said, sounding shocked.

Goten on the other hand had gone pale. "Raditz…"

Trunks nodded at him. "Yes, it's the same one." That had caught his father's attention.

Goten sighed sadly as he looked down at the table. "And there is no way to help him."

"He said that there was no way out." Trunks stated.

"No way out of what?" Gohan pondered, looking very suspicious.

"What almost happened to me, happened to Uncle Raditz. He's still locked away in the whiteness." Goten said, looking at the table.

Goku and Gohan looked shocked. "But how? He came to Earth, we saw him." Gohan asked.

Trunk sighed. "Remember when we came face to face with Kabu? That was only the darkness in Goten. The whiteness had tried to swallow him whole."

Chichi had come up and hugged her son from behind. "But he's still here!"

"Raditz pushed me away from the whiteness. He told me not to come near it. It would do the same to me that it did to him." Goten said feeling nothing but remorse for his uncle.

"But that would mean that Raditz was also pushed to a breaking point by Frieza." Goku said, still shocked to discover this.

Trunks looked at the journal in his hands sadly. "All of it is documented in here."

Goku turned around to ask Vegeta why he had never brought anything about his brother up, only to find that Vegeta was gone. "Where did he go?"

"He's never let go of him." Trunks said before turning back to Goku. "Raditz was my father's best friend and Frieza poisoned Raditz. He destroyed him completely and allowed the darkness to take over. My father couldn't save Raditz, so he threw away everything but his pride and hatred."

Goku couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was so hard to imagine Vegeta and his brother as friends.

Trunks then grabbed a photo out of the journal. Goku could clearly see his brother, Vegeta, and Nappa. Only his brother and Vegeta looked like Goten and Trunks at that age. Trunks looked it over then got up and walked over to a chest of drawers. He proceeded to pull out a pair of scissors then he cut Nappa off of the photo.

"Trunks! Why did you do that?" Bulma said in shock. "Your father will want that!"

"He wouldn't want it with Nappa in it." Goku wondered what Trunks meant as Vegeta walked back in. From the look of it, Vegeta had washed off his face. The warrior didn't want anyone to see him cry. "Here, Pops." He handed the photo to Vegeta and he smiled at it.

"You know, this was taken right after Planet Vegeta was destroyed. You can't really tell from the look of us." Vegeta looked over it again and again.

"He doesn't hate you. He seemed happy that you've moved on." Trunks said.

Vegeta almost dropped the photo. "He can see us?"

Goten sighed. "It's kind of a rule of the void as he called it."

"If only I had…Then he never would have…" Vegeta's voice dripped with regret.

"You were children. Neither of you could have stopped him." Trunks decided to stop at that. This wasn't the place to bring up such things.

Down the table, Goten started shaking. He looked like he wanted to throw up. "Goten, sweetie, are you okay?" Chichi asked her son.

To his surprise, his father walked around the table and put his hand on Goten's shoulder. "If you ever need to talk, the gravity room is always open."

Goten stopped shaking as realization hit him. Vegeta understood. He really wasn't alone here. He gave Vegeta a nod. They would talk about this later, when everything was more private.

"Come on, Bra, just talk to him." He heard his niece say.

Bra just turned red as she looked at him. Goten himself turned red as he looked at her. "Hi…" Bra said, almost sweating as she looked at him.

"Hi…" He said awkwardly. Now that he was back to his normal self, he found that he really didn't know how to talk to the object of his affection.

"Oh, and, Goten." Goten turned his face back to Vegeta. "Stop by to train anytime." Vegeta said.

That confused him. He thought for certain that Vegeta was about to yell at him for looking at Bra. It was almost as if he was inviting him in on purpose. Trunks wasn't going to like this.

As he looked around the room though, Trunks looked too distracted as he talked with Marron.

Goten smiled. He felt incredibly happy. He was finally home and he would never leave it again. He would do everything in his power to protect it. If he didn't, something like this would happen again. He would take up Vegeta's offer and train.

"So are we going to train tomorrow then?" Goten heard his father ask him.

He smirked. "You think you can take me on, old man?"

Goku smiled back at him. "You want to bet?"

The End…until the epilogue

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note  
> Yes, there is an epilogue after this. Just got to tie up a couple of loose ends. For those who don't know a trifle is an English gelatin and fruit dessert.


	21. Chapter 21

2 years later

Goten sighed as he came out of the gravity room. He had been training every day since he had returned. Sometimes it was here, and sometimes it was at home with his father.

Trunks's training had slowed down. He was getting ready to enter the business world. But at the same time, Marron was all over him. Goten figured that Trunks was going to pop the question any day now. It didn't stop him from making fun of him though.

He was about to head towards the Capsule Corp kitchen. He needed some breakfast before he got back to training.

Once there, he could see the whole Briefs family chowing down. Trunks had been talking over some business with Bulma and Bra was going over her training with her father.

Vegeta seemed to notice him first. It was kind of normal to see Goten walking around in armor nowadays. It took his parents some getting used to but at this point they didn't seem to care. They were happy to have him back.

"Goten, come sit down. There's plenty." Bulma said to him.

He nodded and took his normal seat between Bra and Trunks. Trunks turned to him and laughed. "This weekend is going to be huge."

"So you're finally going to pop the question?" He said, making everyone spit out their food.

Trunks glared at him. "No… Marron and I are having a double date with Uub and Pan."

Goten only shrugged. "So this means no hanky-panky for you."

"Goten!" Trunks said turning completely red. "Marron and I don't do anything."

"Not from what I've heard." Goten chuckled, making Trunks turn even redder.

Next to him Bra giggled. "Come on, Trunks, we all know about it."

Trunks glared at his sister. "Can we just change the subject?"

"Did you want me to get mad at Uub or something? That would be Gohan's job. He hasn't made it easy for Uub at all. I'm surprised that he's even letting them go out." Goten said before stuffing his face.

"He's not happy about it. Pan's mom told him that he had to." Bra said.

Goten almost laughed at that. "I'm not surprised."

Bra finished up her pancakes. "I think I'm going to go train." She said getting up.

"You'll see me in a little bit. I just wanted to get something to eat." Goten said.

Bra gave him a smile before disappearing. He could tell that Trunks was glaring at him. "Goten, what have I said?"

He looked over at Trunks. "Trunks, I come and train just about every day."

Trunks just sighed. "You know, you need to get out and meet someone."

Goten rolled his eyes. "We are not going over this again." He said finishing up. "I know enough people." He stood up and started to head back to the gravity room. He didn't want to talk about this. He had trusted too many strangers in his life; he didn't need to invite any more people in.

Vegeta only looked at his son as Goten left. "Don't push him. He'll do what he wants with time."

Trunks sighed. "I guess." With that Trunks stood up and put on his jacket. Vegeta cringed as he looked at the suit his son was wearing.

"Have a good day, Trunks." Bulma said looking at her son. She had the day off today, so she didn't have to go in. But as she looked over at her husband, she could tell that he didn't like this. Vegeta hadn't been too happy when Trunks had started to give up his training. But Trunks had other responsibilities. He couldn't just train all day. Besides, Bra still loved training, as did Goten.

As soon as Trunks was gone, Vegeta made to stand up. "I'll see you later. I want to get in there before it turns into a brawl."

She gave him a smile. "Have fun."

He smirked then walked out of the room.

* * *

3 hours later.

Vegeta came out the gravity room. It was time for lunch, but that had nothing to do with why he wanted out of the gravity room. This was the normal. It happened every time they trained.

Behind him, he could hear Goten and Bra arguing. They were going over who had landed what blow and where. At the same time, they were arguing over who had won.

Vegeta rolled his eyes. For some reason, he couldn't pinpoint where he had seen that before. He knew that he had seen two people argue like that before, he just didn't know where.

Bulma giggled as she looked up at him from the couch. She was reading a book. "Did they drive you out of the gravity room again?"

He nodded. "I just wish I could figure out what their problem is."

Bulma smiled at him, just as she heard an explosion outside. She jumped up and went to the window, only to find Goten and Bra arguing next to it.

"See? I told you that you couldn't hit that!" Bra said angrily.

"It's never done anything before!" Goten shouted back.

"Why don't you pull your head out of your ass and think for once?!" Bra said, getting in his face.

Goten growled. "You are the most insufferable woman, ever!"

Vegeta froze. He finally realized what he was watching. A memory of the past practically smacked him across the face. It was as if he was staring at himself and Bulma.

Vegeta hadn't really thought about Goten being with Bra before. Trunks had made sure that nothing had happened and Goten made no move on her. Goten wasn't just a fighter, he was a saiyan warrior. He was more than just Kakarot's son. Goten understood things that only Vegeta did. He really couldn't ask for a more perfect man for his little girl.

Bulma sighed next to him. "I guess I need to go fix that."

Vegeta smirked as an idea formed in his mind. "Not yet."

Bulma turned to stare at him in confusion. "What?"

Vegeta looked at her. "What do you see when you look at them?"

Bulma looked back at her daughter and Goten. "I see two stubborn fighters arguing, why?"

Vegeta chuckled. "Think back. Remember when I made the gravity room explode all of those years ago."

Bulma froze as the memory hit her. She was surprised that Vegeta even thought about that. "But what does that have to do with?"

Vegeta smiled back down at the two from the window. "Call Chichi. I think I have a plan for this weekend after all."

"What do you mean?" Bulma asked.

"We're going to set them up. Just don't say anything to Trunks about it." Vegeta said.

Bulma smiled at her husband. "I never thought you would ever be the matchmaking type."

"Neither did I."

* * *

Goten woke up that morning and ran to get dressed. Bulma said she would have the gravity room up and working again this weekend. Today was the day. He had been training outside with his father, but it would be nice to get back under the g forces.

As he walked out into the living room, he could see his mother smiling at him. "I cleaned your armor."

He didn't even look at it as he took it from her. His father was just staring at him with a big, goofy grin on his face. "What?" Goten asked.

"Nothing." Goku said almost winking at his wife. Chichi giggled.

Goten just shook his head. "…Okay."

"Make sure to brush your teeth." His mother chimed in, confusing him. Why would she bring up something like that?

"And don't pick your nose." His father said.

Goten could only stare at them. He wanted to ask where the camera was, but he didn't have time. He had promised to be at Capsule Corp early. He ran back into his room and got dressed; only to cringe when he looked down at his armor. His mother had polished it. It was so clean that he could see his face in it. He sighed. "Now I'm going to have to get it replaced."

Vegeta was going to make fun of him for this. He would have left earlier, but his mother made sure that he brushed his teeth before he left.

He still didn't understand what all of that was about.

As he landed at Capsule Corp, he could see that the gravity room was standing again. He couldn't wait to get in a couple of spars. He needed an intense one. Sometimes he felt that his father went a little too easy on him.

As he entered the building, he noticed that it was a little quiet. Too quiet. Everyone had to be up. No one in the Briefs house slept in.

Maybe they were all out. He could at least use the gravity room, right? Vegeta said that he was free to use it if he wanted to.

He moved down the hall and was surprised to find the halls empty. There wasn't even the smell of food in the kitchen. He had to remind himself that Bulma's mother and father were off on vacation, which meant that they all had run off to get breakfast.

He shrugged, at least he now knew where they were.

He walked into the gravity room and smirked as he started to put in the codes. He could run this at a much higher level than the last one. At least that was what Bulma promised.

"Goten?" He froze. He wasn't expecting anyone after finding the house empty.

"Oh, I thought you had all left." He turned to find Bra closing the door.

"Yeah, mom and dad went out, and Trunks decided to go talk with Uub about tonight." Bra stated. She just stared at him, then she started laughing.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"Your armor." She giggled as she pointed at it.

He growled. "My mom really needs to ask your mom about how to wash armor."

"It looks like she polished it for hours." He said. "It will look better after a good spar, I hope."

She continued to giggle. "You hope?"

He sighed. "I may need a new set. Polish can destroy the weather proofing on it."

She looked interested in what he was saying. "What is like wearing that?"

He shrugged. "I think it's comfortable, but from what I remember, Trunks didn't like it, so it's hard to explain."

Bra sighed. "I wish I could know for sure."

Goten's mind flashed to what Bra would look like in saiyan armor, but his mind got a little distracted by the idea of her in that spandex. It would truly look amazing against her skin. No curve would be hidden.

"Goten?" Bra asked, knocking him from his thoughts.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"Are you going to start up the gravity or not?" She asked, getting into a fighting stance.

He smirked at her, then pushed the button that turned on the gravity. "Bring it on."

* * *

Goten smirked as they walked out of the gravity room. They had been in there all day. Both of them were covered in sweat and breathing heavily.

Bra looked around and smiled. "You're not too bad."

He smirked back. "I'm surprised. You've been working hard, haven't you?"

"You bet. I may be the only girl still training, but I'm not going to stand around and become some weak little flower." Bra said, as they walked into the kitchen.

"Like anyone would call you that." Goten said as she passed him a glass of water.

She smiled. "Someday I may be able to take you down completely."

He smirked. "I doubt that."

"We'll see about that." She said, walking by him and over to the refrigerator and took what looked like a letter off of it. She opened it and read it. "It looks like my parents have gone out. They left us a card if you want to go out."

Goten walked over and looked at the letter. If he agreed to this, it meant that he was going out alone with Bra, and Trunks wouldn't like that. But at the same time, it wouldn't be like they were on an actual date, so why not? "Okay, where do you want to go?" He asked.

She turned red. "Oh…umm…why don't you pick some place, and I'll go and get ready."

He nodded and she left the room. He suddenly felt nervous. Now he wished that he had a change of clothes.

He couldn't stop himself as he walked over to one of small bathrooms and washed his face off. He had to at least get the sweat off of himself. Bra wouldn't like smelling him if he didn't.

As he came out of the bathroom, he could hear her coming down the stairs. He looked at her and couldn't stop himself from staring. He knew that she was beautiful, but no word could really describe how she looked. She had put on a red tank top and a pair of blue jeans. This meant that she expected something casual. "Did you pick something?" She asked.

He nodded, unsure if he could really speak. He motioned for her to follow him. If she wanted something casual, he knew just the place. He had been there with his father and Gohan more than once.

When they got outside, he took to the air. She smiled and made to follow. It wasn't that far from his house. It was just a small place in the middle of nowhere.

When they landed, she gave him a confused look. It didn't look like much really, only a small shack in the middle of nowhere. "What is this place?"

"It's a bar, but trust me, they have amazing food. My dad recommends it." Goten joked.

Bra relaxed after that. "If anyone knows food, your father would."

"Come on, let's get a booth before they run out." He offered her his hand and she took it and they walked in.

The place still looked dark like usual. There was a giant pool table in the middle and there was some odd rock music playing in the background.

He already knew the rules and led Bra to an empty table and the two of them sat across from each other as a waitress walked over and passed them menus. They were only one sided with about 5 entrees and 2 appetizers on them.

Bra looked at him. "What's good here?"

Goten smirked at her. "What isn't good?" He turned to the waitress. "Can we have about five of everything?"

The waitress looked a little confused, but then her eyes went wide. "You're Son Goku's boy aren't you?" He nodded. "Say no more."

He looked back at Bra who was eyeing the pool table. "Do you play?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No, I've never even touched one."

He smirked and stood up. "Come on, I'll show you."

Bra turned a little red, but nodded and followed him over to the table. She watched as he began to gather all of the balls and set them in what looked like a triangle. He pulled the triangle off and the balls stayed in place. "The goal is to use this white ball to get the others into the surrounding holes." Goten said, passing her a pool cue.

Bra nodded and took the cue, she made to set up, but she couldn't get a good angle on it. How was she supposed to hold this thing?

Goten chuckled. "Do you need me to show you?"

"I can get it." She said, sounding irritated, but she still couldn't get it.

Then to her complete surprise, he came up behind her and began to guide her arms so that they were more comfortable. She thought back to all of those years ago when he had shown her that fighting stance. She felt a little weak in the knees when she felt his chin on her shoulder. "Don't overdo it. Just knock it so that they break apart."

She did what he asked and was surprised to find a couple of the balls had gone in. "I did it!"

Goten didn't want to move away from her. He shouldn't have even shown her how to do it that way, but he couldn't help himself. He did force himself away from her though, which left his body cold. "Why don't we go and get our food? It should be done by now and we can come back and play afterward."

Bra gave him a smile, and they walked back to their table. Goten was right, their food was there, and it smelled amazing. Bra had never seen this much barbecue in her life.

From the first bite, she was hooked. How did she not know of this place sooner? She was going to have to come back here with Goten in the future. Not that this was a date or anything. It was just them going to get food after training. That was it.

They got some looks from some passing bystanders as they ate. They must not have seen saiyans eat before. Goten got a good laugh out of one couple that was staring at them with their mouths dropped. He had pointed them out to Bra, and now they were making faces at each other as they ate.

When Bra scooted back, she found that she was stuffed. She couldn't eat anymore or her stomach would explode. "You were right, for once."

"If you listened, you would find that I'm right more than that." He answered.

Just as she was about to retort, a strange man walked up to the table and put his hand on it. "What is a beautiful rose like you doing in a place like this?"

Bra glared up at the man. He wore a white tank top that was stained. For some reason, he thought that he looked good with sunglasses on, which made no sense. This place was dark and it was already dark outside. "Nothing that has to do with you, so if you don't mind…"

He made to grab her arm, but his arm was quickly snatched and he was pushed down to the table. Goten had stood up and was forcing the man's head down as he twisted the man's wrist. All Goten did was growl.

Bra looked up at Goten and her heart skipped a beat. He looked positively livid. She couldn't help it as she started to stare at him with a dreamy look on her face.

"Hey, man, let me go!" The man shouted.

Goten only snarled. "The lady already said no. I suggest you leave her be. Understood?"

The man's body started to shake and Bra noticed that the man's pants were wet as Goten let go of him.

The man wandered off and Goten sat back down. "I'm sorry about that. I swear these places pick up some weirdos from time to time."

She made to giggle, but stopped as a strange woman the size of a truck who was wearing a mini skirt started running over with what looked like a metal chair. WHAM! The strange woman had smacked Goten over the head with it. Making Goten's head hit the table. "That's for Billy Bob!"

Bra stood up from the table and the woman made to smack her with the chair, but Bra caught it and crushed the metal in her hands. She snarled at the giant woman. "You dare to attack a saiyan? You're a fool."

The woman began to back away in terror as Bra pinned her against a wall. A couple of men started to run forward in an attempt to pull her off of the tub of lard. As soon as their hands got close to her, a loud, territorial growl rang through the entire bar.

Everyone stopped as Goten moved forward. Every man cowered as he made his way to her. "Let's go, Bra. I wouldn't want you to sully your hands with that trash."

The woman jumped as Bra let her go, but then she made an attempt to hit Bra from behind, only her arm was caught by the saiyan princess. Bra smirked then twisted the arm around till she heard a snapping sound.

Goten put his arm around Bra's back and she didn't flinch or tell him not to as he led her over to the counter to pay. The woman behind it looked horrified. Bra giggled. "Just put any damages on this." She passed the woman her card and the woman just nodded.

Bra felt herself move closer to Goten. He was warm and he wasn't complaining.

As they got the receipt and exited the building, they could hear all of the people going to the aid of the woman whom Bra had injured. "Golly, Brandine, you shouldn'a gone after that one."

Goten and Bra burst into a wave of laughter as they exited the building and were met with the night air. The moon was full tonight.

"We should fly back." Goten said.

She frowned. She wasn't so sure that she wanted to go back yet. "But flying can be boring."

Goten chuckled. "Not if we make it a race. The first one back to Capsule Corp wins."

She smirked at him. "Wins what?"

He grinned. "I guess whatever the winner wants…within reason of course. And who knows, maybe you'll actually beat me for once."

There was a spark in her eyes as she looked up at him. "You're on."

The two of them flew up into the sky and began the flight back to Capsule Corp. Every once in a while, they would twist around each other and dive around the hills and valleys. Nothing could get better than this.

* * *

Marron giggled as they finished up their game. Uub and Trunks had had the great idea of having the date be at Capsule Corp. Vegeta, Bulma, and Bra were still out doing something and they had told Trunks that he could have the house to himself for the night…well until about 10, which it almost was.

Uub and Trunks had set up a game night, while Pan and Marron had cooked supper. Soon, Trunks was going to take her home, while Uub dropped off Pan.

The door opened and he knew that the rest of the Briefs family had to be home.

Bulma walked in and said hi, while Vegeta looked over the game that they were playing. "What is this nonsense called?"

"Dad, it's called Twister." Trunks made to explain, but then noticed that his family was one person short. "Dad, where is Bra?" His father continued to stare at the game as if he hadn't just asked him a question. Trunks turned to his mother. "Mom, do you know where Bra is?"

Bulma looked away from her son. "Oh, she's just out."

Marron looked at Pan and the two shrugged. Uub didn't seem too interested.

"If she's gone out, then shouldn't she be on her way home?" Trunks asked.

Vegeta chuckled. "It depends."

"Depends on what?" Trunks said suspiciously.

Suddenly, everyone could hear laughter from outside. "See I told you that I would beat you one day." Bra said.

"That was just beginners luck. Best two out of three then?" Goten answered.

"No way! You know the rules! You were the one that made them, remember?" Bra giggled.

Goten sighed. "Okay then, what do you want?"

Trunks was angry. He had told Goten "no" on more than one occasion and now he knew that Goten had gone out with his sister. He was going to give him a piece of his mind.

Trunks opened the door, just in time for Bra to grab the front of Goten's armor as she pulled him down into a kiss. Trunks stood there in shock as Goten's arms made to go around his sister. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Goten jumped and Bra growled. "What do you think we are doing?"

"I don't want to see my best friend and my sister swapping spit!" Trunks growled.

Bra rolled her eyes. "Learn to deal with it, because I like him!" Bra turned red after that.

"You like me?" Goten had also turned red. He had thought that it was all one sided for all of these years.

Bra turned a darker red and looked down. "I… I mean…"

Goten didn't care anymore. It was as Bra said. He was going to have to get used to it. He put his arm around her and pulled her up into a kiss. She let out a whimper as her arms went up his chest and around his neck. He could feel Trunks's eyes on him, almost as if they were trying to burn him, but he wasn't going to lose this time. He wasn't going to let Trunks decide who he would mate with. As he pulled away, he looked her square in the eye. "I like you. too."

They all heard a dark chuckle at the door and all of them turned to find Vegeta standing there. Trunks smirked as his father walked towards Goten and Goten prepared himself for a beating.

Vegeta only put his hand on his shoulder and gave him a smile. "Welcome to the family."

Trunks's mouth dropped as Vegeta let go of Goten. "But, Dad…"

"Your sister has chosen herself a proper warrior. Who am I to deny her that?" Vegeta smirked, then pulled his son to his side. "Just look at them Trunks." Trunks looked over and watched as Bra snuggled herself against Goten. "Don't you see it?"

"See what?" Trunks asked.

"Exactly. It's finally gone. The darkness that surrounded Goten has finally vanished. It was the same thing that happened when I finally ended up with your mother." Vegeta explained. "Goten needs to move on and your sister can help him do that."

Trunks sighed. "Does this really mean that Goten is going to be my brother-in-law?"

Vegeta smirked. "I hope so. I really do want some grandchildren that I can train."

Trunks rolled his eyes. "Of course that's what you want."

Out on the doorstep, Goten blushed as Bra pushed up to kiss him again.

He couldn't have imagined this all of those years ago. If Kabu had been told that he had a wonderful family back on Earth, he would have thought that that was crazy. If he had been told that his best friend was still alive, he would have said that that was nuts. If someone had said that he was to find the person he would want as a mate, he would have thought that person was insane. But here he was with all of those things and he couldn't be happier. He had never been happier to say that he had not fallen in the white.

The End.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note  
> Here we are at the end. I hope you enjoyed this story. I want to thank everyone that favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. It was a fun ride. Sadly, this really is the end for this story. I had so much fun writing this and reading every one of your reviews on it, many of which have made me smile.  
> This story is actually a spin-off of a much larger story that is in the making. But that story won't be ready for another couple years. Falling in the Black will look nothing like this story as it will span over 6 fics in length, and force Goten to travel a road much darker than this one did. My beta reader and I came up with this story as we wanted to see how to really flesh out a darker version of Goten, which will pale in comparison to the FIB counterpart. As I said, both my beta reader and I want to be out of college before we fully start working on it.  
> I will be working on more adventure stories, just look at my profile. My next adventure project is going to be called Days Forgotten, which I'm looking forward to sharing with everyone.
> 
> Beta Reader's Note:   
> I just want to thank y'all so much for all the reviews, favorites, and follows. I hope y'all enjoyed reading this as much as I did. I especially hope you enjoyed the gelatin thing; I kind of stole that from my uncle who, many years ago, helped in turning his high school's brand new Olympic size swimming pool into a giant bowl of red Jell-O as their Senior Prank. It was always one of my favorite stories, and gave us the inspiration for some great mischief on Vegeta's part.


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